Cinderella
by Guynelle
Summary: Modern time: When Mrs. Higurashi dies unexpectedly, Kagome is sent to live with her cousin Kikyo's family, where she is treated like a slave. Two mysterious, silver-haired teens do their best to help, but who will she fall for? REVEIW!
1. Chapter 1

I ran my hand over my mother's cold one; she was about to go into the cremator vault. Her once beautiful features were now gray, and slightly dusty around the edges. My mother, Rin, was the best mother that I could have hoped for.

She got sick about a month ago with Spinal Meningitis, and went downhill fast. She hadn't had time to make sure that everything was in order for us when she died, but she told us many times that she loved us and that she would see us again one day before she died.

My brother, Souta, held my hand quietly. He was eight, and I was seventeen. I remembered my mother's words of always being kind to him; I would do my absolute best from now on. I felt bad for him; he didn't get to know our mother as well as I did.

The men in medical uniforms wheeled her body into the vault, shut the door, and we heard the jets of flames start.

Souta started to cry, and I said to him, "This is so that she can look over us, don't forget what she used to tell us."

"S-She used to say 'Remember me as the brightest star in the sky'," I nodded, and held him to me.

"We will be going to our Aunt's houses tomorrow, you know?" He nodded, with tears dripping down his face.

………..

It was decided that as both of our parents and all of our grandparents were deceased, we would be split up between our aunts. Our great aunt Higurashi, my father's aunt, was well into her seventies and needed some help around the house. Souta would go with her because she was kind and liked him. She knew how to handle children well, and loved to talk about what was going on in our lives.

I sacrificed myself to go to the least favorite aunt, Ami. She was mean and self-centered, but wealthy. My mother put up with Aunt Ami as best as she could, but even my sweet-tempered mother could barely deal with her.

Aunt Ami had a daughter who was a few months older than I; Kikyo. Ami was my mother's identical twin, though their personalities were nothing alike. Kikyo resembled me a lot physically, though the differences between us were the same as our mothers. She often remarked that my simple, earth-toned wardrobe was 'hideous'. I rather liked it; it was all fashionable and cute on me, though that is another subject. Aunt Ami had been married to a very wealthy older man, who was Kikyo's father, but they divorced shortly after Kikyo was born. She hired a lawyer, and somehow wound up with most of his money. They had lived lavishly ever since.

Anyways, my school was in the same system as Souta's, so I would be able to walk him home every day after school. I had a feeling that our Aunt Higurashi was going out of her way to pay for Souta to go to the expensive private school alongside me, but I wasn't going to complain. I knew that my Aunt Ami would want me to help keep up with the chores, but I had no idea what I had in store for me.

…………

"KAGOME!" It was the first morning after I went to live with Aunt Ami; a Saturday. It was the last weekend of summer, so in two days following I would be starting at Kikyo's school.

I looked over at my alarm clock; it was 6:15. I hopped out of bed, and my nightmare began. My aunt was on her elliptical exercising, so she panted out orders from her perch. "Scrub the marble floors by hand, clean the windows, all bathroom surfaces need to be bleached, the kitchen needs to be cleaned top to bottom, and Kikyo's room needs to be picked up. Go, everything you need is in the hall closet."

I was still half-asleep, and stood there for a half-second trying to regain consciousness. She stopped her elliptical, and said, "Go get everything done, or I wont feed you breakfast."

I went back to my bedroom, dressed, brushed my teeth, and got to work. I soon realized that they hadn't bothered to sanitize their home since they found out that my mother was dying; they knew that I would be coming to live with them and I would become their new maid.

The largest job by far was scrubbing the floors by hand; by the time I was finished, it had been nearly an hour of grueling, laborious work. I had done things like this at my own house, but never by hand or I would have had help. I got up, and went to do to the bathrooms, windows, and kitchen, which would hopefully give Kikyo enough time to sleep.

By the time I was done with that, it was nearly 8:30.

I knocked softly on Kikyo's door. I heard someone rustling around and walking frantically, and I assumed that she was up already. I asked, "Kikyo, may I come in?"

I heard voices, and I quickly realized that there was a man in her room. I blushed, and left to re-bleach the entire kitchen.

………….

I made up excuses about why I frequently walked passed Kikyo's room, but the man was still in there and they were still talking frantically.

I re-did all of my chores, and then at 9:30 I decided it was enough. I tried the door; it was locked, and the voices were still there.

I went down the stairs to where my aunt was, and simply said, "I hear Kikyo's music going off in her room, and she has the door locked. I don't think she can hear me knocking."

My Aunt Ami got off of her treadmill, and marched up the stairs to Kikyo's room. She knocked, and when Kikyo didn't open the door she pulled out a key.

I held my breath as she opened the door, and winced as she gasped at the boy inside. At first, I thought the sliver-haired person was another girl until I remembered that it was a man's voice I had heard. All I could see was Kikyo and this boy sitting on her bed. Their clothes were wrinkled, and Kikyo's makeup was quite disheveled.

Unfortunately, Aunt Ami's reaction to this wasn't what most would expect; she said, "Oh, what a surprise. Inuyasha, would you mind stepping out?"

I turned and left, shocked that she hadn't gone ballistic over the situation that she found her daughter in.

As I descended the steps, I heard the boy behind me.

"Hey, are you Kikyo's sister?" He had the most beautiful gold eyes I had ever seen in my life. His hair was oddly white (it must have been bleached), and he had the most radiant features. He was dressed extremely well for a teenager, with a designer red polo and matching lounge pants. He was beautiful.

I snapped out of my stupor by the time we finished the stairwell, and said, "No, I am her cousin."

"Sounds like you got it rough; what you doing here?"

"My mother died recently, so I was sent to live here," I gestured to my messy pony tail and oversized, old dress shirt that once belonged to my dad. I wore short blue shorts; he stared at my legs. "With my Aunt Ami and Kikyo."

"They turned you into the abused maid?" He pointed to the box of cleaning supplies in my hands.

"Oh, no, I just-"

"KAGOME!" We both jumped. I looked up the staircase, and Aunt Ami was standing at the top with a furious look on her face.  
I slowly walked in her direction from the parlor, and Inuyasha whispered, "I heard everything, Kagome. See you around."

He let himself out, and as soon as he was out of hearing range Aunt Ami had the most horrible fit I had ever seen someone her age throw.

Her face turned redder than an apple, and she looked as if she was having a schizophrenic meltdown for a few minutes. It was as if she didn't know who to be mad at; me or Kikyo.

I heard the 'W' and 'B' words thrown at Kikyo a few times, and the basic message was that she was supposed to win over a Takahashi boy first before sleeping with him, not the other way around. Then she babbled endlessly about how Kikyo's father would be 'so disappointed.'

Then, Aunt Ami turned on me. She was exceptionally angry that I had let Inuyasha ask all of those 'too personal' questions about her family and myself.

She then turned back on Kikyo, and they went back into her room for some more yelling. I knew that they would be at it for another long time, so I stole a piece of bread, a slice of the cheapest cheese, and a gulp of water from the kitchen.

I went back up to my room and lay down to cry for a good, long time. I missed my mom, my home, my brother, my boyfriend (Hojo), my things, my school… I would be in the land of the rich and famous in a few days, and I had a feeling that I was going to hate it to pieces.

………


	2. Chapter 2

The next two days were much quieter; I got my list of chores at the crack of dawn from my aunt, I did them, I avoided Kikyo, and I went back to my room to spend time texting my old friends and on my laptop. I feared that my aunt might try to sell them for extra money, so I kept everything valuable in a dirty old case underneath the loose floorboards. My mother had paid for a year's worth of service just before she was diagnosed with Spinal Meningitis, about five weeks ago. By the time it would be time to renew the contract I would hopefully have a job.

I was pleasantly surprised when I asked Aunt Kikyo about seeing my brother, she said, "As long as you have all of your chores finished and you aren't doing anything that will affect me or Kikyo, I don't care what you do. Just make sure to be back by meal times, or else you won't have anything to eat."

I spent the last two afternoons of the summer with Souta, who had found life with Aunt Higurashi quite pleasant.

We had a snack with our older aunt, and then we went up into Souta's room for some time to talk.

"Sister… I miss mom."

"I do to, but you know what she would say. She would want us to make the best out of our situation, no matter what it was. I am going to graduate high school and get a job with our old dentist, Honda," His eyes lit up, "and you are going to live with me when I get an apartment. I already talked to Honda-sama, and he agreed. Our old aunt really loves you, though, so you don't let her fatten you up too much."

I wasn't lying about the dentistry job; the woman who worked in the office and booked the appointments was going to retire after twenty-five years of work with him, and he offered me the job because he was good friends with my mother. It wasn't fool-proof, and he said that he 'couldn't make any permanent promises', but I am pretty sure that it will work out. He gave it to me in writing, the only exceptions being if someone in his own family needing a job badly, or if he died.

Souta and I sat for a long time talking about the good times with our mother, and our cat Buyo who died just over a year ago. Souta seemed as down as I, but he usually dealt with grief much better than I did. He was always such a cheerful little person; I loved him to pieces.

We parted ways after that, and I then asked my Aunt Higurashi, "Would it be alright with you if I walked Souta to and from school? And maybe I could help him with his homework after school sometimes, if he needs it?"

She accepted my offer, and I thanked her profusely.

……….

I asked this of my aunt when I returned home, with baited breath. "I suppose… You will have to get all of your chores done in the mornings before school, which the late bell rings at 8:10… And I will not tolerate grades any less than perfect from you. Got it?"

I nodded, and bowed to Aunt Ami. I knew that Kikyo did fairly decent in school for someone who tried so little, but I always wondered what Kikyo would have turned out like if she had been raised by a mother who actually had Kikyo's best interests at heart.

Kikyo came down the stairs as we were talking, and she interrupted our conversation. "I am going clubbing tonight with Inuyasha, mother."

My aunt tried to protest to her own daughter, but Kikyo persuaded her of course. Something about her winning over a rich man for them to live off of. "I will see you later," she eyed my sloppy cuteness with a disgusted face, and said, "Mother, we need to buy that girl some new clothes. I can't be known as the pretty rich girl with the ugly poor cousin. Got it?"

My aunt nodded, and I was stunned with the lack of authority, again. Kikyo looked her mother up and down, and said, "You have been working on your figure."

Kikyo left following this odd comment, and Aunt Ami was strangely happy afterwards. It was as if getting the approval of her daughter was the highlight of her day. I was sickened by the relationship, and I decided that I could not wait until I was out of there.

As I was re-cleaning the windows for the second time that day, Aunt Ami approached me. "Your uniform has arrived with your school schedule. Make sure that it fits, or else you might borrow a set of Kikyo's old ones until we can order another one. May I ask if your mother left you any inheritance?"

I knew that this was going to come up; their lawyer was over the previous evening discussing things about me now living with them. I told her the truth, but exaggerated a bit. "I am allowed a small percentage of it when I turn 18, there is a fund set up for college, and then when I complete college I am allowed the rest of it. Why do you ask?"

"Well, that is fine. Our lawyer said that our financial situation would be better if you were to pay for your own tuition to school."

She eyed me for an answer, and I said, "I would be perfectly happy going to a public school, instead of the expensive private one. It is your choice to send me to Kikyo's school."

My aunt simply turned on her heel, and went into the kitchen. I knew that the only reason that she was sending me to Kikyo's school was to keep up her reputation as being extravagantly wealthy. I could hear her dial a number on their telephone, and it sounded like she was relaying the information to her lawyer. She must have been disappointed when he agreed with me, because she stormed off without a word into the master bedroom.

………….

The morning that school started, I made sure to wake up extra early, get my chores done, do my makeup, and then go and retrieve Souta. Our Aunt Higurashi had told us where the schools were, so I walked him over there. My uniform had obviously been tailored to fit Kikyo, which I assumed from the beginning, but it looked excellent on me.

Souta asked me a question I had been pondering since I found out about our new situation. "Are they not going to like me because I am not rich?"

"Don't worry, they will love you!" It was true; Souta had a way with being popular amongst his friends. "Don't let them bite you, and think about what mom would say."

I kissed him on the cheek, and pushed him through the entrance. He looked back at me, smiled, waved, and ran inside with all of his new peers.

I looked at my own watch; I was running five minutes behind my self-imposed schedule. I knew that I had time before I would be late, but I wanted to have plenty of time to look around the school to get familiar.

I walked warily to the entrance of the school; there was a black shiny car following me at slow pace the last few blocks of the way.

When it pulled up to the curb, I was surprised to see Inuyasha and someone who was presumably his brother.

"Hey… Kagome, was that your name?"

I turned around and Inuyasha was about two feet behind me. "Yes, that's me."

He grabbed my schedule out of my hand, and said, "Damn, you take hard classes. I think Sesshomaru has some of these. Hey, bro! Come 'ere!" Was that their actual names?

I hadn't had a good look at Sesshomaru's face, but it turned out that he was twice as gorgeous as his brother. He had walked passed us, but turned around. "What is it?"

His deep voice compared to his brother's was striking. Inuyasha said, "This chick is Kikyo's cousin. She has some of your classes. Will you show her around?"

He made a face at me; Kikyo obviously had a reputation around here. "Fine, follow me."

He pulled out his own schedule, and took mine from me. What was it with these brothers and snatching? "We have all of our classes together except lunch. It is on a rotation schedule, you have second lunch and I have first. Did your cousin tell you about our schedule?"  
I shook my head. He sighed, and pulled out another piece of paper from his pocket. It was a map of the school, with hand-written numbers on it. "This is our school map. You can have this to follow."

He and I walked into the entrance of the school and he showed me the way to my first class, Literature and Composition. I was too busy trying to listen to him and look at the map to look around at my new classmates, who gave me odd looks. They must have thought that I was Kikyo, with Sesshomaru.

There were five different buildings, with walkways connecting them. They were all circled around each other in the shape of a pentagon. He pointed each one out vaguely, saying which subjects were taught in each building. There were eight classrooms in each building, making this school much smaller than my former public school.

My first teacher was an older half-American woman who wound up being very funny. Sesshomaru's seat was directly next to mine, and when everyone else was in stitches laughing at this woman's jokes, he remained passive and cold. I found it odd, but didn't say anything.

In the middle of the period, I was called to the principal's office. I wondered if my Aunt Ami had changed her mind about me here already; I walked back up to the entrance, where I saw the sign.

I walked into the office, and it turned out that there was literally just the Principal and his assistant. This really was a small school.

"Miss Higurashi, please sit down," the assistant jumped up out of her chair and gave it to me.

I thanked her, and sat down. She had obviously had plastic surgery, because her eyebrows were about an inch higher than where they should have been. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please."

She left, and the principal addressed me. "I spoke with your Aunt a few days ago, and I am very sorry to hear about your current situation. If you ever need anything, please let me know. I am the Superintendent of this school district," Oops, had I called him Principal? "And I have already talked to your brother. I placed him in the most desired teacher's classroom, Mrs. Yamaguchi," I bowed in thanks to him, "And I know that he will find her to be a fantastic teacher. I am sorry that I did not show you the school myself, but I saw our Sesshomaru Takahashi leading you around?"  
I nodded, and he said, "That is our prized student, he went to a national science fair a few years ago, and won. His brother has also been awarded a class title, would you like to guess?"

I was surprised, and he pointed to a plaque on the wall, "Japan's funniest 10th grade Class Clown, he went to the championships."

We both laughed. "Anyways, I hope that you find our school to be nothing less than the best. If you need anything, or someone to talk to, just come right down here. I didn't have time over the summer to send these to you like all of the other students," he handed me a packet; "It contains your current class rank, transcript, and a few scholarships that apply to you. I was very impressed with yours, Miss Higurashi. You knocked Sesshomaru out of first place! I will have to tell him this afternoon, it is our standard policy."  
I was number one? This school must have been full of complete idiots! Dentist Honda wouldn't dare turn me down now!

I walked back to class on a cloud… Starting my senior year at number one was a dream of mine…. My mother would have been very proud.

………….


	3. Chapter 3

I breezed through the day easily, that is until lunch. I made sure to get into the longest lunch line available, and took my time picking out food. All of the meals and side dishes looked fantastic; this was such a rich kid school it was ridiculous.

I got out of the line, and panicked. Everyone had since figured out that I was Kikyo's cousin, and were trying to decide if I was a slut or not. Of course, they wouldn't invite me to sit at their table, but they would observe me to make their final decisions.

"HEY KAGOME OVER HERE!" It was Inuyasha, sitting next to my favorite person in the world. Kikyo hit him on the arm, but he still waved me over.

We had the attention of everyone in the hall, so I decided that I didn't have a choice.

I went and sat down, and the torture began.

"Inuyasha, what a nice thing to do for someone lost like a retarded puppy."

He flicked a pea at her from his tray, but Kikyo simply let it hit her, and brushed it off.

"This girl is like your body with a good personality in it, isn't that weird?"

She glared at me across the table, and I looked down at my tray. I ate slowly, as their conversation turned to what Inuyasha saw when he was over.

"So you guys adopted this chick so that she could be your maid?"

"Of course not, right Kagome? I do the same chores, but it was her turn."

I nodded, and continued eating.

Inuyasha wasn't fooled, because he said, "Oh please, you have never cleaned a window in your life, whore."

She took it in stride, which shocked me. What women will do to marry money is a very broad topic.

I sat through another fifteen minutes of this until the first bell rang. I jumped up out of my seat, and Inuyasha said, "Hey, you need help finding your next class?"

I looked down at my schedule, and I didn't know where the next one was. "Um… Yes please."

Kikyo glared at us as we walked away.

Inuyasha led me down the hallways and into the court yard where all of the building connected. He said in a low voice, "You need to stop letting that bitch lie about you. What they are doing is wrong."

I turned to him, and said, "It is either this or I am homeless and broke. I couldn't get myself into foster care even if I wanted to. I can't touch my mother's money until I am eighteen and I have to live with family to get it. I can tough out ten months of living with Kikyo."

He looked like he had been slapped. "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing, just let it be please. The more you bug Kikyo about it the worse she will be to me," We talked in between people passing us. "I have a plan for as soon as I turn eighteen, and it doesn't involve living with Kikyo's family."

He stopped in front of a room with Sesshomaru already inside of it. "This is it. See you later."

I walked inside, and took a seat next to Sesshomaru. It was Advanced Placement Chemistry, and the teacher was one of the most unkempt people I had ever seen in my life. Her frizzy, brown-dyed hair was growing out to show a gray stripe on top of her head. Her glasses were outdated, and she was much too thin. Her cheap makeup was making her face oil, which made me instantly check mine for the same issue. I used decent makeup, but when it ran out I would just tough it until I had some income.

She had us bring out our text books from under the desks, and she began refreshing our memories on the Polyatomic Ions. I had these memorized already, so I didn't bother to write them down.

The teacher noticed halfway through, and snapped at me, "Miss, what are you doing? Why are you not copying these down?"

I decided to tell her the truth, "I have already studied them."

She got very offended then, and said, "Come up to the board. Write them all down, and the names of the elements that are in them. Since you know them, you shouldn't need your book."

I proceeded to do so, and she got steaming mad when I finished the perfect chart on the board.

I handed her the white-board marker, and she told me to go and sit down. She turned to the class, and said, "Class, Miss. Higurashi is correct." The class applauded, and I blushed. The teacher then got even more agitated, and said, "Are you a new student here?"

I nodded, and she said in a crisp, agitated voice. "From now on, you must take notes on all of the lessons, regardless of if you know it by heart or not, or you will receive a failing daily grade. Do you agree?"

I nodded again, though I disagreed. It seemed that the standards of this school were a bit lower than my last one, not that I was going to complain. It just gave me that much more of an advantage over everyone else.

………..

Twenty minutes to the end of our last class, Japanese Government, Sesshomaru was called to the office. I wasn't surprised, as the principal said that he would have to inform Sesshomaru that I had knocked him out of number one in terms of class rank.

I sat with worry on my shoulders while he was gone, expecting him to be angry when he came back.

It turned out that he didn't come back until a few seconds after the bell, and I was walking down the hallway when I saw him. He didn't even acknowledge my presence, surprise surprise.

I then walked to Souta's school, which was conveniently released ten minutes after mine. I noticed on the way there that I was the only high schooler to walk home; they all had their own cars. It was unusual for a Japanese teenager to have their own car, because normally everything in Tokyo was within walking distance. Kikyo didn't even have a car; I doubted that she could actually drive. Her chauffer (an ex felon for check fraud, though no one else knew about it) was going to pick her up after cheer practice at the school.

I sat on a bench and waited outside of Souta, who emerged glowing like a light bulb.

He jogged out of the school with all of the other kids, and he said, "My teacher is _awesome_!"

We talked on the way back to our Aunt's, and he told me all about the new school.

"The food is amazing, and the desks are super fancy, and my teacher is really cool, and today was the day for the science demonstration, and…"

He proceeded to tell me that there was a weekly rotation of different subjects that are emphasized, like Science and demonstrations, Art, Physical Education, Music, and Creative Writing. Today a teacher from the middle school had come to help the kids make Ooze, which was in the plastic bag.

"And I already made a friend in my class, Sadie. Everyone thinks that she is not cool because she is from America, but I think she is really funny, even though she sounds funny."

"That is nice of you, Souta. My school is very fancy also, and everyone is pretty nice. The lessons are a bit easy, huh?"

"Yeah, but I have a lot of homework, even if it is easy. Is your school really easy too?"

"Yeah, I already knew what my Advanced Chemistry teacher was going to teach today. Guess what, I have awesome news about my grades!"

"What?"

"Do you know what a class rank is?" He shook his head, "It is every kid in my grade at my school on a scale, kind of like 1 to 10, with number 1 being the smartest with the best grades, and number ten being the dumbest with the worst grades. The only exception is there are one hundred and fifty kids in my grade. I am number one!"

He high fived me, and we were on my Aunt's doorstep before we knew it. "Do you need any help with homework, Souta?"

"No, thanks Sister."

I kissed him on the cheek, and whispered in his ear, "You don't stay on the T.V. too long, and make sure you take a shower every night and use soap all over. Got it?"

He nodded, and we parted ways. "Love you, Souta!"

…………

I walked back home, only to find Kikyo already there. Was cheer practice canceled?

I bowed my head, and tried to walk passed her up the stairs that she was coming down.

"Hey, I wanna talk to you."

I looked at her, and she pointed into her room. I walked inside carefully, and stood in front of her bed. "What is it, Kikyo?"

She walked up to me, and said, "Thanks for flirting with my boyfriend, bitch."

"Excuse me?" I was expecting a 'don't sit with us at lunch or I will slit your throat', not a 'boyfriend stealer' accusation.

"I think that you think that since you look like me you can come in all sweet girl and take my place, huh?"

"No, Kikyo, I would never even try to do that to you," I was telling the truth somewhat; I wanted nothing to do with Inuyasha. He was a bad influence, and I had a goal to accomplish that did not include liking a spoiled rich kid.

"Liar… I used to be like you. All sweet, never slept with a guy. Let me give you a good pointer; if you want to marry money, you have to sleep with them first. Times have changed since our mothers were in school, Kagome."

"That's probably true… But I did not flirt with Inuyasha, Kikyo."

She made a sickly sweet smile at me, and said, "Then why did he break up with me today, hmm?"

I was stunned; maybe because of what I told him? I should have known this would have happened. "Kikyo, I am sorry, but I did not want this to happen-"

"If you do anything to wrong me ever again… I will have you kicked out of here, Kagome. Inuyasha is not off limits anymore, as he won't have me. Bitch."

I nodded, and bowed to my cousin. "That's better… Oh, and you can clean up in here. The sheets need to be washed, and the window blinds need to be dusted by hand. You are responsible for supplying condoms to me, also. Have a new pack in here by tonight."

I started on her newest list of chores, and she sat down to type up an essay that she was supposed to do over the summer. It didn't take me long, and I walked to the corner store (It was run by a relative of someone in their high-end neighborhood) and bought a ten pack for her.

When I returned, I found here sitting in front of a blank page still, after nearly an hour. "Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"Do this essay for me."

I was going to protest, and then her most recent threat sunk in. She hadn't meant just 'don't wrong me'; she actually meant 'be my new slave because my mother isn't a very good one'. "Sure, what is the topic?"

"Write about your most influential person, two hundred words double spaced twelve font."

Her reading skills were atrocious, but of course I didn't say anything. "Who is your favorite musician, or writer?"

"I want you to write it about Mother Teresa, that is what the smart girl in my class is writing hers on…" She turned to me, and said, "Wait, you're smart. You will know who will be a good topic… You will figure it out."

"Okay, how about Mark Zuckerburg?"

"Who the hell is that?"

"That is the guy who invented Facebook, you like Facebook right?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

She got up and left, and I sat down to write the piece. It didn't take me long, but I was steaming mad the entire way through. I finished, saved it, and printed it out for her.

By the time I was done, I had done an hour and a half of Kikyo's bidding. It was nearly five o'clock, and that meant that it would be close to dinner time.

………..


	4. Chapter 4

It turned out that in this house, everyone at extreme diet food, so the only real meals I could eat would be the food served at school. They ate only super low-calorie (American, yuck!) meals, which I was not accustomed to. Things like plain oatmeal, raw fruits and vegetables, wheat sandwiches filled with chopped vegetables, wheat crackers that tasted like bark, raw lettuce and tomato with a vinegar-blend dressing, and plain chicken with fat-free cheese. They drank water and fat-free milk, and that was it. They kept traditional, expensive Japanese foods for when people came over or when Kikyo had men visit her, but I wasn't allowed to eat it.

Kikyo and I were the same slim, but curvy size, though I was accustomed to eating three good sized, traditional Japanese meals a day. I could tell that I was already losing weight in three days between the exercise from cleaning, walking to school, and eating tiny meals of the awful, tasteless foods.

I was sorely tempted to steal an instant noodle package that evening after I got my homework done, but I knew that they would notice it gone. Aunt Ami was obsessed with not spending money that wouldn't make them look rich, and keeping me at a healthy 115 pounds wasn't going to do the trick.

I had eaten a salad and a couple nasty bark crackers earlier with Aunt Ami, but I was still hungry. It was as if their starvation methods were catching up to me already… nine months and twenty-five days left.

I sat in my room looking over an English verb chart while I could hear my stomach grumbling… Kikyo hadn't asked for her change back from the condoms… I had vowed not to spend any of the two-hundred dollars that I had stashed in my room before mother's death, but now I had a bit of extra money.

I went downstairs and told my aunt that we were almost out of dish sponges (which was true) so she gave me less money than I would need and sent me to the corner store.

………..

I actually had enough extra money for a plastic carton of hot, plain noodles (with the flavor it was more expensive) and a pack of three cheap sponges, as long as my Aunt Ami didn't look at the brand of them.

I ate the noodles on the way home, and put the trash in a neighbor's recycling bin before making it home. It was dark, but I had to walk slow enough to eat before reaching the house.

………..

The next day when I was walking to school, Inuyasha had his driver follow me to school again. I ignored them the best that I could, but as usual he jumped out of the car and assaulted me.

"Kagome, come 'ere!"

I turned around and walked back a few paces to where they were standing. Sesshomaru looked pissed, but Inuyasha seemed extremely happy.

"My mother told me that Sesshomaru has been kicked off of his high horse! Hah!"

He put his hand up for a high-five, which I did weakly while Sesshomaru was glaring at his brother. "Good job, keep it up."

Inuyasha jogged to catch up with one of his friends, and I was left standing awkwardly before Sesshomaru.

"Shall we?" His expression had turned somewhat pleasant again, for someone who was so stoic.

I said, "Sure, lets go."

We walked in silence into our classroom, though the teacher wasn't inside and we still had a good ten minutes before class started.

We both put our things down by our seats, and I sat down at mine. I started to pull out the materials that I would need, but Sesshomaru got up and sat in the desk in front of me.

He turned to be facing me, and said, "Kikyo and her mother aren't treating you correctly, are they?"

I knew that Inuyasha would say something… "No, they are not. It doesn't help that everyone knows, you know?"

"I would do anything to help you, Kagome. Just say what."

I brushed away a few tears, and said, "You barely even know me, why would you do that? Besides, I 'kicked you off of your high horse.'"

He sat for a few moments, thinking. "I know that you are a really good person in a horrible situation. I would like to help, if you will allow me."

"I don't know of anything that can be done. I can't get into foster care because I am too old, and I can't touch any of my mother's money for ten months. My brother is being well taken care of, thankfully. One of my best friend's parents wanted to adopt me, but the law is very restrictive. My mother's will, which she wrote when all of my grandparents were alive, says that we will go to live with family in the event that something happens to her."

"I see… What if you got a lawyer, and went to court?"

"It wouldn't work fast enough that way. A social worker would be sent in, and it would be months, even a year in some cases, until it would be arranged for me to be sent to live with someone of my choice. Besides, Aunt Ami would just pay off the judge anyways."

He sat in thought for a few more minutes, and said, "I will figure something out for you, my father's-"

Our teacher walked in at that moment, and he couldn't keep talking. "Thanks for the help, Sesshomaru. I appreciate it. I don't know how I would have found my way around if you hadn't helped me."

He got up, walked to his chair, and sat down. "You are welcome."

He pulled out his things too, and we began the lesson as our fellow students began filing in.

…

I found a girl at lunch that I had known from Kindergarten, just before she started going to school here. She was quiet, and didn't eat anything. I almost told her that washing her face with salicylic acid would tremendously help her face, but I could hear my mother's wise words ringing in my head. I kept a conversation flowing, until she asked about my mother's death.

I told her the basic details, and she simply nodded. We didn't talk after that.

…

I didn't get the chance to talk to Sesshomaru much in class, because we had so much work to do. I liked the system that they had going here, it was much better from my previous school. The teacher would teach a thirty to forty minute lesson, then give us the rest of the time to work on our class work, and whatever we did not finish became homework. I made sure that I got all of the class work finished in each class, so that all I would have to do is look over my notes and study in the evenings.

I made sure to finish all of Aunt Ami's chores in the mornings, and then do Kikyo's bidding in the evenings. It seemed that she took extremely easy classes that gave out little homework, so I didn't have much to do for her in terms of schoolwork.

I kept her room to perfection, which proved to be easy. She made the same messes every day, and it became routine to keep it up.

……

After my fourth day of school, I went with Souta to our Aunt Higurashi's house to help him with some homework he didn't quite understand. We did his homework in less than twenty minutes, and I think that he simply wanted to spend some time with me.

We sat down and talked over snacks that our aunt provided, and I chatted with her some. She had been going through my mother's old things, and was having the house appraised. I was surprised at the amount, and especially surprised that Souta and I were each going to receive 45% percent of the selling price.

"It was in her will for you kids, and I don't need the money. I make enough from my retirement through the school I worked at, and social security."

"So… Aunt Ami will never get any of my mother's money?" I was delighted at this fact, I could have practically screamed in joy.

"None that I am aware of, unless you give it to her of course. Souta's either. The rest ten percent goes to the upkeep of the housing bills for the next week and of course the realtor's charge of 5% of the sale of the house. Your mother had just paid off your house, so there won't be any mortgage payments to pay off. Your insurance paid for all of her's and your medical bills, so you will be 100% debt free."

"And does this money go away until I complete college?"

"That was not specified in the will, so no. You will receive this money as soon as you turn eighteen. I advise you to stay living with your Aunt Ami until you get a stable job, Kagome. You would be surprised how quickly money vanishes when you are not careful."

I nodded, and said, "Thank you, and I agree with you Aunt Higurashi. You are always so generous with your wisdom, and always willing to help us in our times of need."

Souta and I bowed to the floor in front of her, and she said, "You are most welcome. You better run along back to Ami's house."

"I will," I hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, and then I left.

I walked briskly back to our home, and went straight to Kikyo's room. I was only about an hour late from school, and I had Aunt Ami's permission.

I found a short note from Kikyo:

_clean up everything like always_

_bleach bathroom and vanity_

_re-organize clothes drawers_

_throw away shoe boxes in closet_

_wash sheets with bleach and softener_

I had found something interesting while living here; Kikyo wet the bed. Or maybe Inuyasha and Kikyo were back together and he wet the bed… But I was pretty sure that he wasn't putting up an act at school, and she was the bed wetter. I had had problems with off and on until my freshman year of high school, but I could have never imagined that the perfect girl who was Kikyo actually had such a vulnerable flaw. What did she do when men came to her bed? Stay up all night? Maybe that was why she was always so cranky.

I proceeded to start on the list, which wound up taking longer than I imagined. I had a Chemistry test the next day alongside a Literature quiz, but I knew that I would make hundreds on both as long as I studied tonight.

When I was doing the bathroom, I stepped on the scale. I had already lost three pounds in one week. I was depressed from my mother's death and also from being with Aunt Ami and Kikyo, which was probably another factor.

I finished just as Aunt Ami was calling for dinner, which was going to be plain white chicken and cheese. My aunt came into the kitchen drenched in sweat; she was trying to be as thin and young as Kikyo, but it was not physically possible for someone her age (and who has birthed a baby) to be my and Kikyo's size.

Kikyo made another remark to her mother about Ami's dwindling size, and she was obviously motivated and pleased again.

"I hope that you keep going with this, Mother. You are really starting to look good."

"You think so?"

It reminded me of one of my old classmates; she was gorgeous, had an addictive personality, but was very manipulative. She befriended people who she knew admired her, and would do anything to keep her happy. When the admiration started to wear off, she dumped them and found a new person to manipulate. She would go from person to person, but made sure that after every dumping that all of her peers were on her side, and not the dumped person's.

Kikyo did this with her mother, but she couldn't actually 'dump' Ami, so Kikyo did her best to keep her mother going with the charade.

We finished dinner with the two of them chatting idly about Inuyasha (Aunt Ami didn't know that they had broken up), and I left to go and study.

I was hungry afterwards, but I was somewhat getting used to these foods. They were tasteless, but my heart burn (which runs on the Higurashi side of the family) had gone away completely.

I stayed up until 10:30 studying for my classes, and then went to bed. I then realized ironically that I had the best grades that I had ever had in my life (all perfect scores in every subject) right now, though I now had more priorities that came first.

I looked out the window of my shabby little room, and looked at the stars for a bit before sleeping. I had found that this helped me, it made me think of my mom.

…………


	5. Chapter 5

I was having a fantastic day; Aunt Ami only gave me a short list of chores to do that Friday morning.

I got to school, and Inuyasha followed me as usual. He ambushed me, hugged me, and whispered in my ear, "You hanging in there, Kiddo?"

I nodded, and I noticed Sesshomaru glaring at his brother. Did he like me?

Inuyasha still hadn't let me go, and when I tried to get out of his embrace, I found him to be extraordinarily strong. What kind of steroids was this kid on? He was smaller than his brother, only a few inches taller than my 5'1'', but he had the strength of an ox.

"Let me go, Inuyasha."

"Not until you say the magic word!"

"Please?"

He let me go, and we laughed at his antics. Sesshomaru stood a few feet away looking furious, and I still did not understand why.

As usual, Inuyasha ran off after a few minutes, and all of the girls in the area sent dirty looks at me (Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were most wanted because of their looks and money, apparently).

I walked over to Sesshomaru, and said his usual line. "Shall we?"

He nodded, and said, "Follow me; I need to talk to you."

"Wha-"

He made an odd noise that cut me off from talking. Sesshomaru led me straight to the gymnasium, which was right behind the furthest corner of the school.

"Kikyo was watching you and Inuyasha the entire time, and I think that you are in for it."

I rolled my eyes, and said, "Kikyo is always watching, and I am always in for it."

"Inuyasha told me that Kikyo told him to make you fall for him, and she wants him to hurt you. He won't do this of course, but I thought that I should let you know."

I was surprised that Mr. Stoneface was keeping me so informed. "Thank you, Sesshomaru, but I don't really like Inuyasha like that…" I LIKE YOU, YOU IDIOT! I wanted to say it so badly.

"I think that it would be in everyone's best interest if we let Kikyo think that we were letting her have her way… What do you think?"

"She might be worse to me if she doesn't get her way… I don't have time to hang out with Inuyasha though. My extra time is spent either being Aunt Ami's maid or Kikyo's slave."

"Give me your cell phone," I pulled it out and handed it to him, slightly confused. He proceeded to put his and Inuyasha's numbers in it. Why was he doing this? Was this his way of asking me out? "I don't trust that girl or her mother with the power over you like they have. If anything happens, call me and I will come and get you. Don't hesitate. My father's lawyer looked over your mother's will, don't ask how they got a copy, and they are working on trying to find a loophole right now."

I thought it was the sweetest thing ever, though I didn't think that I would need to bother him much, if ever. I think I shocked him when I hugged him, and he awkwardly patted me on the back. "Thank you, Sesshomaru."

"You are welcome. Let's go to class." Mr. Stoneface was back, and I wondered what personality it was that came out of him for so short a time.

………….

I think I got perfect scores on my tests that day, but I couldn't be sure of anything until I got my scantrons back on Monday.

I walked Souta to our Aunt's as usual, and we hung out for a bit. He said that he could do his homework tomorrow, which didn't surprise me.

We wound up playing Pictionary Man, which my Aunt Higurashi wound up being great at. We laughed for what seemed like hours, and I had to leave too soon as usual.

"You two keep on playing, I want to hear about it tomorrow."

….

When I got home, Kikyo was already gone and hadn't left a not, so I picked up her room as usual and left to my room.

I pulled out my laptop, and started on a new paper. I heard my phone buzzing, and thinking that it was one of my old friends, got it out and looked at it.

Sesshomaru was texting me? Maybe I had the wrong impression of Mr. Stoneface.

I opened it up, and it said, "Inuyasha got his phone taken away, he wanted to tell you to that he will pick you up tomorrow at noon for a fake date. He will take you wherever you want."

I sent back, "Tell him that he can drop me off at my brother's house, and that is a great idea. I will tell the wicked witch that we went out to lunch."

"I will let him know. Do you have a good quote I can use?"

I thought that it was random, but I understood what he meant. Our Literature and Composition teacher had assigned us a 2000 word essay due on Tuesday, and the topic was "What is your favorite quote and how does it affect your daily life?"

I sent him back one of my favorite Shakespeare quotes, "How far that little candle throws his beams. So shines a good deed in a weary world."

He took a few minutes to respond, and said, "Thanks. Shakespeare?"

"Yes, one of my favs."

"Favs?"

"Favorites," Mr. Stoneface didn't text much apparently.

"Inuyasha said to tell you that he is about to text Kikyo from my phone the plan for tomorrow, so be prepared."

I scrambled to put my phone on silent and my laptop under the floor board. I counted under my breath the number of seconds that it took Kikyo to receive the message and come into my room. Thirty-nine.

She knocked on my door softly, and when I said 'Come in', she let herself into my room. "Wow… It is really depressing in here, huh?"

I nodded, and said, "Something the matter?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. You are going on a date with my ex-boyfriend. Just wanted to give you this," She threw a condom onto the floor. "I decided that I am over him, he is old news. I am working on a new boyfriend, Kagome, do you want to know who it is?"

"Sure."

"Sesshomaru. He is the smarter one of the two, so he will be the rich one. Have fun with my leftovers."

She left, and I held in a laugh. Sesshomaru hated Kikyo's guts, there was no way that he would date her… Unless it was to keep her from harming me? Either way, I think that she would find Mr. Stoneface less than entertaining.

I wrote my essay on an Eleanor Roosevelt quote, and I was very happy with it when I was finished.

I made sure that it was perfectly punctuated, had a good story line, and had a clear beginning, middle, and end. My teachers seemed to go a bit easy on me as I was the new student, I had noticed already a few mistakes that they had made in grading. I hadn't made less than a perfect score on anything, to my amazement.

Sesshomaru texted me about an hour later, and said, "Did Kikyo get mad?"

"Not really, but she is pursuing you now."

"I know."

I didn't know how to respond to this, so I said, "Cinderella needs her beauty sleep. Night Sesshomaru."

"Goodnight Cinderella."

I thought it was cute that he called me that, but I didn't reply again.

I fell asleep in a good mood, and for the first time since my mother had died I had a good dream. It had been a good day, after all.

…….

The next day I got ready for my 'date' with Inuyasha; Kikyo had insisted that I wear some of her old clothes, and she did my make up. I looked like her twin by the time she was finished with me.

"He won't keep his paws off of you, go get him."

He had honked his horn from outside a few times, but Kikyo wouldn't let me go until I looked perfect.

I stumbled down the stairs in her heels, and walked out to his car. It was fancy, but I wondered if he actually had his Drivers License.

As I was walking to his car, he rolled down his window. He looked me up and down a few times, but didn't say anything until I was in the car.

"Did you let Bitch-zilla make you over?"

I laughed at his joke, but he was dead serious. "No, I didn't have a choice. You know her."

"God, you look just like her. I thought it was Kikyo walking out at first."

"No kidding. I have a change of clothes in the bag. I feel like I am leaving the house with no clothes on, this is ridiculous!" I gestured to the tank top, short white skirt, and red high heels.

"Yeah, I would feel kind of weird walking around in that too."

"This is so wrong," I pulled down the skirt, which barely covered my underwear when I stood up. I took off the heels and put on the flip flops that I had in the bag, and pulled out my short, black robe.

He laughed, and said, "I don't know where your brother's house is, so you lead the way."

I showed him the way, and he said, "I will be back in an hour, what do you want to eat?"

I protested at first, but he just gave me a look that said 'don't even try'.

"Something really fattening, Kikyo and her mother don't eat anything that tastes good."

"Okay, I will bring the buffet here."

Before I could say anything, he drove off.

….

"Kagome, what a nice surprise! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I hung out with one of my new friends from school this morning, and I had him drop me off here. What are you guys doing?"

"Just hanging around, watching a game show. Souta hasn't gotten to go out and play much today, you two want to go play with the dog?"

"Sure, let me use the restroom first!" I had covered my scanty wardrobe with the robe, but I really needed to change.

I went into the bathroom and switched clothes, pulled back my hair into a pony, and went outside with Souta. My aunt's dog, Susie, was very old, but my aunt was under the impression that she was still young and ready to play.

We wound up sitting in the grass with Susie laying across our legs (she was well over 75 pounds), and talking. We didn't talk about mom today, and I didn't think that Souta felt like it anyways.

After a bit, we went back inside to find Inuyasha sitting in my aunt's living room. He had brought about six or seven plastic cartons filled with all kinds of wonderful smelling foods, and I could see the look of a hungry lion on my aunt's and brother's faces.

"Shall we?"

Inuyasha looked slightly uncomfortable in my Aunt Higurashi's simple, low-cost abode, so I made sure to incorporate him into our conversation.

It turned out that Mr. Rich Kid Who Drives Like A Maniac didn't have any table manners; he ate as bad as Souta did on an empty stomach. He tore through about half of the food that he had brought, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"Wow that was great."

"Young man, do you have a hollow leg?" My Aunt had a very serious face on.

"No… Why?" He must have thought that my elderly aunt was crazy.

"Because you just ate an inhuman amount of food. Please pull over if you start feeling sick from this."

We all laughed, and Inuyasha's cheeks had a slight red tint to them.

"Thanks, you're really cool!" My brother eyed Inuyasha's silver hair and expensive clothes.

"Thanks, Kiddo. You're not too bad yourself."

"Can I dye my hair like his?" He looked at my aunt.

"My hair isn't died… My dad and brother have this same color."

My aunt and brother then spent the rest of the time marveling at his odd color of hair.

We all thanked him, and I changed into my 'date clothes' before we left.

As soon as I got into the car, I put the heels on.

"So, what is the story that Kikyo is going to be fed? Lunch at what place, and sex or no sex?" I was surprised at his question.

"Um, I definitely don't do that on first dates. Lunch at… Yuki's?"

I didn't ask where he had gotten the food, but I assumed that was where it came from.

"Sure, that's where I got the food, and no one who would recognize us was there. Kikyo is going to sure be disappointed. Making out?"

"Sure, why not?" He laughed at me, and pulled up to my new house.

"Let me get this right… Yuki's, no sex, great make out session in my car before and after lunch."

Just as I was about to open the door to get out, Inuyasha grabbed my shoulder and pulled me a few inches away from his face. "Put your hand on my shoulder, she is watching."

I leaned more towards him, and put my arm around him. He waited a few seconds, and said, "Okay, coast is clear. See you later."

I said, "Thanks for the save… You really do have a good heart, Inuyasha."

I got out of the car, and trudged in the horrible shoes up the steps to the house, and let myself in.

Kikyo motioned me into her room as soon as I walked across the entrance, and I gulped.

I walked up the stairs, and into her room.

"Well, spill it."

I almost felt like I was gossiping with my best friend for a second after she said that, but reality sunk in a mili-second afterwards. She was my warden and I was her abused prisoner.

"Um… We went to Yuki's for lunch, we made out in the car before, we ate, and then after we made out again before I came in."

"I saw the after part, and it seems that Inuyasha likes to be as rough with you as he did with me," She sat thinking for a few minutes, and I simply waited. "You can put those clothes back where they belong after you change. You can come in here afterwards and clean off all of my makeup containers, and then dust and vacuum."

I nodded, and then left to go and change into my dad's old dress shirt. I knew that I should cherish the item while it still looked nice, but it kept me feeling like I was close to him in a way.

I did everything that the Wicked Witch asked me to do, and then I left to go and work on my own homework. I had little to do, except study as always.

………..

The next month flew by in the same pattern. I got up, did chores, walked Souta to school, walked back to my school, talked to Inuyasha, walked with Sesshomaru to class, went to all my classes, sat with someone new at lunch, went to the rest of my classes, walked Souta home, hung out with Souta for an hour, went back home and did Kikyo's bidding, stole Kikyo's change for noodles, studied, ate dinner, showered, texted my old friends from school, and made plans with Inuyasha or Sesshomaru (depending on who had their phone) to keep the Kikyo charade going. I found myself to be more and more obsessed with making perfect grades; I hadn't made less than 99% on anything yet. I had to stay at the top.

Inuyasha and I pretended to go out on dates on the weekends, while we actually went to my Aunts and ate, or went to a dollar theatre movie (we knew that we wouldn't seen anyone from our school there) and met Souta and Aunt Higurashi there.

I told Kikyo that Inuyasha and I had had sex on the fourth date, and of course she was as fit as a fiddle.


	6. Chapter 6

Five weeks into the school year, I decided that I was going to befriend a girl named Sango, who I had sat with at lunch several times.

It sounded like here parents were extremely strict, and didn't allow her to go out with friends very much. She was sweet, but very funny. She had a stalkerfriend, Miroku (one of Inuyasha's closest friends at school), who sat with us a few days a week from Inuyasha and their Band of Seven Jock-Idiots. He annoyed her, but not enough for her to permanently send him away. I think that she liked him.

One time, when they were sitting on one side of the table and me on the other, Sango and I were talking and all of a sudden she froze.

"What is the matter? Are you okay?"

Then, she jumped out of her chair and slapped Miroku so hard that the noise resounded around the whole cafeteria. Everyone turned to look at them, and a teacher escorted them out.

Sango didn't get into any trouble, but Miroku was kicked out of school for two days, and his parents were fined for his misbehavior.

Sango knew about my mother, and that Kikyo was a big 'B' word, but she didn't know anything else, which was nice for a change. I needed a female confidant, even if I did have to lie a bit about Inuyasha being my boyfriend.

……..

One day in mid September, Kikyo came up to me and talked pleasantly to me for the first time at school. "My mom is in the hospital for something about her white blood cell count. I don't know, but she should be out soon. I am going to stay with my dad for a few days. You are going to have the house to yourself until she comes home; don't have anyone over. Keep the place spotless."

I knew instantly that the white blood cell count was because Aunt Ami was starving herself so that she could be thin. She was eating half of what little was on her plate, and then giving the rest to me.

I wasn't surprised, but I hoped for my sake that she would come out of it.

……..

It turned out that I was absolutely correct; when Aunt Ami came back (I became depressed again), I saw the paperwork from her physician from the hospital who documented that she was underfed and her white blood cell count was very low from such little nourishment and sugar in her blood. He told her to exercise no more than two hours a day, and eat at least 1500 calories of bread, meat, fruit, nuts, beans, vegetables, cheese, and a bit of sugar and oil every day in her diet. I was happy that she had been told the truth, even if she did choose to ignore it.

Unfortunately, when she returned, she was in a horrible mood. She gave me endless, and sometimes pointless, chores to do that kept me occupied all afternoon. I wound up eating nothing some days just so I would have enough time to study. School food was the only thing keeping me alive, and of course seeing Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Sango, and Miroku every day.

I could tell that I was thinner than Kikyo now; I had lost over ten pounds in two months according to her scale.

One Sunday I had gotten up out of bed and fell, my head was so light from lack of nutrition that I couldn't get up. My brain was temporarily Out of Order; my phone was in my hand, but I couldn't figure that I should call 911.

After a few minutes of this, my head cleared up but I felt like I was about to die. My lower stomach felt like it was on fire. I had to dial Sesshomaru's number several times to get it right.

"Hello?"

"Sesshomaru?"

"Are you okay?"

"No."

"Where are you?"

"Home, in my room."

"I will be right over."

"Hurry."

He kept me on the phone until he got to the house a few minutes later, and I could hear him arguing with my aunt about who he was here to see. He must have pushed passed her, because I could hear her yelling at him to get out of her house.

I wondered for a second if he would care that I was only wearing an oversized white polo and a pair of short shorts, but I doubted it.

He busted into my room with my aunt right on his heels, and picked me up.

"I will hurt you if you don't get out of my way," he must have made some kind of really scary face, because my aunt backed out of his way immediately.

He put me in his car, and took me to the nearest hospital.

Sesshomaru must have already called the hospital, because they were already outside with a stretcher. I felt so lame when they put the neck brace on, but I was in so much pain that I barely cared.

They wheeled me straight into the Emergency Room, and figured out what the problem was immediately. My appendix had burst during the night, and the fluid from it had spread to my blood stream.

I went into the first surgery of my life, and hopefully my last until I had kids.

They put me out with a shot for several hours afterwards, and when I woke up Sesshomaru was sitting next to me.

"How do you feel?"

"Like Kikyo ran me over," Did I really just say that? Was the painkiller some kind of laughing gas?

"Funny, they said that you should be out of here by tonight. My father's lawyer is here, he wants to talk to you."

Oh great, I was all drugged up and about to talk to someone who could save my life, literally.

A tall, nerdy-looking Japanese man walked in and sat down.

"Miss Higurashi, I have been doing some research on your mother's will and the laws that apply to it. You were correct in what you told Sesshomaru and Inuyasha about the social worker is right. It can take 4 months to a year for a social worker to come in, view your circumstances, go before a judge and put in his or her opinion, and then you still have to be re-assigned a home. It is not a good way to go, especially when you have a home life like you are in."

"Also, if your Aunt chooses to kick you out of her house, you would get your inheritance and the money from your mother's house sale. If she did choose to do this, you could live with whoever you want. She lied to you, to make you think that she had the authority over you."

"I have found that you can spend up to 60% of your wake time outside of school at a friend's house, and still receive the inheritance from your mother's will."

I looked at Sesshomaru, and he nodded. I let the lawyer keep talking.

"This means that outside of school, I would suggest spending two days during the school week at your friend's house, and then Saturday and less than 6 hours on Sunday with your friend of choice."

"Also, if it can be proved before a jury trial that they have abused you in any way or physically harmed you, I can help the Takahashi's for every cent that they have to their name. This can be used as good leverage against them."

"That is all that I have been able to dig up right now, so I will leave this with you. It is just a confirmation that you have had a lawyer consultation, and a copy of the basics that I just told you."

"Thank you, fairy god mother," Oh my god, did that seriously just slip out?

Sesshomaru and the lawyer chuckled, and they stepped outside for a few minutes.

This was fantastic! Now all I had to do was spend three week-day evenings with Aunt Ami and the second half of Sunday's with her, and I would be so much freer from her!

………..

Sesshomaru drove me home that evening, after all of the medication wore off. I was in a bit of pain from the stitches, but the doctors would take them out next weekend.

He sat me in the car for a few minutes before we went inside. "I am going to go inside and talk to them first, and show them this paperwork. We have more copies with the lawyer, and at our house, so don't worry if they get damaged. I am going to explain to them what everything means, and give them a telling to. You stay out here until I come back. Lock the doors."

He got out, and I locked them immediately. He hopped up the steps to the entrance, and let himself in with my key.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to hear anything, so I simply looked around the extra fancy car. It was nothing that I had ever seen; it looked like it had white leather seats, a shiny black dashboard of some foreign material, and a very fancy music system.

I looked up through the sky roof, and there was the brightest star in the sky. What an odd coincidence.  
About twenty minutes later, Sesshomaru came and got me. "They shouldn't give you any trouble anymore."

I looked up at his smirk, and said, "What did you do?"

"I simply explained the rules of the game. Let's go inside."

"What are they going to do to me when you leave?"

He whispered immediately, "I am not going to leave. Try to keep them by a window, so I can see."

We opened the door, and they were standing side-by-side in the entrance.

"I will see you tomorrow at school. Here is your paperwork," He handed me the packet in a manila folder. "Make sure you do the essay for Government."

"Okay, thanks Sesshomaru."

He left, but I knew that he would be watching through a window.

My aunt's face instantly turned red, and she looked like she was about to rip my hair out.

She instead turned on her heel, and went to the phone to talk to her own lawyer.

Kikyo made a disgusted face, and said, "I hate you, Bitch."

I looked her in the eyes, and said, "Kikyo, what are you going to do with yourself in life? You aren't going to marry a rich guy, and he will know better than to not have you sign a pre-nup agreement. You are smart enough to go to college, but you want to take the easy way around everything. News Flash: You are not going to marry a Takahashi! Your best bet is to get on a plane and start over looking for a rich guy far away, who doesn't know that you have slept with half of the guys at your school. Kikyo, I really wish that you hadn't been raised by the crazy twin," I pointed to the kitchen, "Because I think that you would have turned out a lot better. Do you remember when we were kids, and you hadn't turned into the Wicked Witch yet? We were best friends!"

She stood there for a minute, looking like she was thinking. She took a few steps closer to me (I thought she was going to strangle me) and said, "Bull Shit." She turned on her heel, and stormed up to her room.

……..

Aunt Ami from that point on rarely said a word to me. I decided to spend Tuesdays and Thursdays at Sesshomaru's house, and of course Saturday and part of Sunday.

On Monday morning after my appendix burst, she went easy on me and only gave me a few simple things to do that morning. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha picked me up for school, and they had picked up Souta. They let him sit in the front seat, and he had a blast. I almost had a heart attack when Inuyasha let Souta steer for a few seconds, but he did better than Inuyasha. Things really seemed to be brightening up for me.

The first time I went over to their home, I was blown away. It was cold that day, and I only had a light jacket.

Sesshomaru picked me up from Souta's after school, and he drove me over to his house.

When they pulled up to the house, I was blown away. It had to be about four times the size of Kikyo's house, with an even bigger piece of land that it sat on. It was an American-style light pink/orange home, with white poles out front and everything. For a house in Japan, this was huge.

I got out, and said, "Wow…"

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru laughed nervously at me, and took me inside to meet their mom.

"Kagome, we finally meet! All I have heard for the last few months is your name," Inuyasha and Sesshomaru excused themselves from their embarrassing mother. "It is so good to finally to put a face to the name. My, you look just like-"

"Don't say it, you will send bad spirits here for seven years," I whispered, and she cracked up.

"True, I wouldn't want that. You need some food in you, hmm?" She pointed to a loaded countertop of home made foods.

My jaw dropped, and she laughed at me. "The boys are usually hungry after school, so I spend my days picking up after them and cooking."

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru came back in after it seemed that no nude baby pictures were going to be pulled out, so we all sat down to eat.

I said, as my mother would have wanted me to, "Your home is gorgeous, Mrs. Takahashi."

"It is Izayoi, please. Don't tell me, tell their father when he gets home in a few hours. He even decorated the place."

I looked around at all of the matching furniture and beautiful rugs; a guy had put this together?

I tried not to stare at Inuyasha as he wolfed down his snack, but I couldn't help it.

"Inuyasha, I think that you might be scaring your girlfriend," all three of us spat out our food.

"She isn't my girlfriend, and I am not that bad of an eater."

"Kagome, your brother is in elementary school, correct?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I wanted to ask if his eating habits are this bad."

"Um… about the same."

Sesshomaru spoke up for the first time since I had come here, "Yes, Inuyasha does have the manners of a fourth grader."

We all sat in an awkward silence for awhile, until their mother said, "Sesshomaru has been working his poor tail off trying to keep up to you, Kagome. How do you keep your grades up so high?"

"Well… The last school I went to was a public magnets school, and I had a much larger class to try to keep my grades above. I was number 23 in class rank before I came here. There were a lot more advanced placement classes for me to take than is offered here."

"That makes sense, how do you like your teachers?"

We small talked until the boys were finished, and then Sesshomaru and I went upstairs to work on our homework.

When we sat down at his desk, we decided to Divide and Conquer. He was going to do our AP Chemistry work, and I was going to do English and Government busy work.

I made sure that all of my answers were correct, and then we traded work and looked over everything together.

I decided that I didn't really mind if Sesshomaru knocked me out of first place if he was going to share his family and home with me. Heck, I don't care if I flunked out, as long as I had a good friend who was so caring and generous at the end of the day. I needed the comfort, and I really liked him a lot.

…


	7. Chapter 7

…….

Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and I all hung out in their game room when we had finished our homework. It turned out that Sesshomaru was really good at playing the games, even better than Inuyasha, and much better than I had ever dreamed of being.

Then, around 7:30, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's father came home. It was obvious who they took after with their odd, beautiful looks; their father was the exact image of the two boys. Inuyasha resembled his mother some, and Sesshomaru had more delicate features than his father and brother, but their hair and eyes were identical.

I talked to him some before he excused himself to get changed out of his work clothes, and I followed him out. It was because of this guy that I now had more freedom and a much better situation, even if it was Sesshomaru who followed it up.

I waited for him in the entrance which led off of the hallway from his room, and when he came back out I started to babble.

"I just wanted to say thank you for doing-"

"Don't even, I don't like Thank You's, it is uncomfortable. I get it, now go play." This guy was definitely Sesshomaru's dad, but a bit more open about his feelings.

I almost said something, and he flashed me a grin and pointed up the staircase. "I will be up in a minute to play too."

"Okay," he left to go and do something again. I sighed, and decided not to bug him.

…

Later on, once Sesshomaru and Inuyasha had thoroughly creamed me and each other, their dad and I had a round on one of Souta's favorites, Mario Kart. He was so technologically behind because of his age, I actually won.

Sesshomaru drove me home that night, and when we reached my house he leaned over to me. I thought he was going to kiss me, but…

"Kagome, I had a good time tonight," I should expect this from Mr. Stoneface.

"I did too, I tried to thank your dad for everything but he didn't want to hear it. You can tell him for me."

"His problem is… he is just like me," he half-smiled for a split second.

I chuckled at him, and we parted ways. I supposed that that must have been a whole lot of emotion for Sesshomaru to display all in one small frame of time.

…

When I got inside, it seemed that everyone was already in bed, so I went straight up to Kikyo's room and peeked inside. She was in bed alright, but not sleeping. Neither of them saw me; thank goodness, so I left them to be.

I went up to my room, and collapsed on my bed. I had had a good day, and didn't once have to deal with Kikyo or Aunt Ami.

…

I slid into my new routine easily, and I loved it. The first week flew by like a dream, Sesshomaru and his family treated me like… Family.

The next weekend I wasn't sure what we would be doing all day, but it turned out that they had plenty in store for us.  
Their father belonged to a country club, so for a few hours on Saturday morning we went to the tennis courts together. Inuyasha was a pro at the sport, so he took on his dad and brother. Myself and Izayoi were a good match, so we played some in the next court and watched the boys part of the time.

They were all lightening fast, but it was as if they were holding back for some reason. They played as if they were showing someone like me how to play the game, with no thought in what they were doing.

I called myself crazy, and Izayoi and I kept playing.

…

"I love you, Kagome," Sesshomaru kissed me on the lips again for the hundredth time in my dream, and I woke up.

'What a fantastic dream…' I got up at my usual 6:00 as usual, and went downstairs on Sunday morning. I wanted to sleep in till noon, so then I could spend all evening with them, but I had to keep to the schedule.

I was surprised to find Izayoi up already, just starting to make breakfast. She was surprised to find me out of bed so early, she didn't even have her hair fixed or her makeup on yet.

"My Kagome, I would bet you are the only teenager in this time zone up already. What in the world?"

I hope I didn't offend her by seeing her so unladylike, but I said, "I normally get up this early to do chores at my Aunt's house, so I don't like to get out of routine."

"Well… are you sure that you don't want to go back to sleep? It is ungodly early for someone your age…"

"It's fine. What are you making for breakfast?"

She told me, and then I started helping her before she could protest.

We made sugary tarts, meaty casseroles, and a tasty drink concoction from oranges and lemons.

"So… that was some kiss last night?"

I gave her a confused look, so she went on. "I was cleaning up the guest bathroom this morning and I heard you sleep-talking." I slept-talked? "Might I ask who the kiss was from?"

I gave a sly look her way, and said, "Guess."

She sat for a minute, contemplating between her two sons. "Well… My son is quite the charmer…"

"They both are, but it was definitely one in particular."

She gave me a confused look, and said, "Sesshomaru didn't tell you? I am his step mother."

I was surprised, but it did make sense that Inuyasha looked so much like Izayoi and Sesshomaru looked completely different in terms of facial structure.

"Really? I suppose it makes sense, Inuyasha's features do favor yours."

"People who meet Inuyasha and I together for the first time say that, but normally it is 'oh my god, you look just like your dad,'" I chuckled, and agreed.

"True, but whatever happened to Sesshomaru's mother?"

Izayoi sighed, and said, "Right after she gave birth to Sesshomaru, she left them. I knew Touga from school, and I met up with him when Sesshomaru was only a few weeks old. And… the rest is history!"

I giggled at her, and said, "What brother do you think it was?"

She put a hand on her face for a minute, thinking. "Inuyasha sure talks about you a lot… but he has a girlfriend right now. You two went out on the fake dates, but that doesn't really count. Sesshomaru has been driving you around everywhere and got the lawyer involved…," She put her voice down to a hushed tone, "Sesshomaru?"

I nodded, and she jumped up and down clapping. "I knew it; you two are going to be so cute together! Oh my, we have antique hair pins that would great for your wedding!"

I ignored her wedding comment, and said, "He is such a sweetie, but he isn't one for getting too excited is he?"

She sighed, and said, "He is better about that when he is around family, but I know what you mean. I remember when Inuyasha was little, and of course Inuyasha was extremely hyper, Sesshomaru was so calm," She shrugged, and said, "He is a catch, most definitely."

I nodded, and we proceeded to gossip about Kikyo. It was like I was talking to my own mother, somewhat. Izayoi was very ladylike, and refined. It seemed that she was very well groomed and clothed, for a forty-something with two children. She was a bit more gossip-y than my own mother was, and definitely more open to talking about boys.

"Yes, Kikyo has been over here a few times. Forgive me, but when I found out that you were her cousin I told Touga that we had another witch on our hands," I laughed, and agreed. I didn't blame her.

"It is remarkable to me that you two are so alike and beautiful, but she is so cruel and you are as sweet as anyone I have ever met."

"Well… My mother and the aunt that I live with were identical twins, but obviously they have totally different personalities. I always thought that Aunt Ami was a bit crazy, but now that I live with her I think that I am right."

She nodded, and we put everything in the oven. "Kagome, you keep strong, and I think that your situation will be much better now that you will be over here with us," she hugged me and whispered, "I always wanted a daughter, and now I have got one."

I hugged her back, and said, "I need a mother-figure, Izayoi, so it looks like a good fit."

She patted me on the back, and we set the table together. I was surprised that so much of their house was American style, as Japan has a 100% tax on anything shipped from outside of Japan. I knew that there were companies in Japan that made and sold goods that resembled the American-style, but they were almost as expensive as importing things from over seas.

………


	8. Chapter 8

It was funny to see everyone in the morning time; I was the only one who had already showered and semi-dressed.

Sesshomaru looked as perfect as always, but in Ralph Lauren pajamas (that he looked way hot in), but his father and brother were a different story. They both wore their hair in pony tails, and their fringe was a complete mess around their faces.

Izayoi and I, and Sesshomaru somewhat, were the only ones who used manners at breakfast, and I could foresee that it would be that way for a long time.

There was little talk, as everyone was still half-asleep. I felt sick by the time we were done, because I had just gotten used to eating my cousin's rabbit food.

…

After breakfast, we hung out in the game room for a bit, and then I packed for going home.

I had such a great time with them that I really didn't want to go home; but, if I didn't want my mother's money to go to the lawyers or Aunt Kikyo, I would have to go back.

Sesshomaru drove me home, and it seemed like the drive over to my aunt's house was only a second.

"What are the neighbors going to think? I mean, I obviously slept over at your house." I was trying to get a laugh out of him, but I failed.

He half smiled for a second and said, "They won't say anything, they wouldn't dare."

"Here I go…" I left the car, took my bag out of the trunk, and left. He drove off, and I went inside.

Aunt Ami was on her exercising equipment as always, so I went straight into her room.

"What do I need to do today, Aunt Ami?"

"Everything, the house is filthy."

I decided that she wanted me to do all of the basic cleaning first, and then go back and vacuum, dust, mop, and do the windows as usual.

I spent several hours doing household chores that afternoon, and just as I was finishing Kikyo came in.

She looked like she had been out all night, so I was glad that I had cleaned up her room already, because she was going to be sleeping all day.

I lowered my eyes when she passed me; I didn't really want to see the way she looked _again_ with her raccoon eyes and wrinkled clothes.

She didn't say anything, and it made me wonder if she had given me any consideration to what I had told her.

….

The next week went by seamlessly, and I felt like I was on cloud nine. It seemed to me that my mother had sent the Takahashi's to me as angels or something, because they sure were working. Sesshomaru and I's awkward love-thingy was coming along it seemed. My grades were perfect, and I was putting on some needed weight. My stitches came out fine, and that was all done with.

It really was a great week, until Friday night.

I spent most of that evening talking to friends and studying, and looking out the window some. My bags were already packed for the following morning, when Sesshomaru would pick me up.

"Kagome?" I heard a whisper coming through a crack in my door.

I got up, and opened the door to find a crying Kikyo.

"What's the matter, Kikyo?"

"I think I might be…" she pointed to her stomache.

"What, are you sick? Do you need me to go and get some medicine?"

"Preg-" She couldn't even finish the word.

"Oh no… With who's?"

She regained her cool for a minute, and said, "Inuyasha. We didn't use a condom in the beginning."

I almost laughed at first, and then cried. I wanted to say, 'You big fat whore,' but then again I probably would have wound up the same way if I had been raised by the crazy twin. Inuyasha's family would be devastated, and this would put me in jeopardy of receiving their kindness. Would Sesshomaru reject me for this?

"Kikyo… I will go and get a test. Go back in your room, I will bring it here."

It was about a half-hour before dark, so I had to hurry. She gave me several twenties, and said, "Get a bunch of them, Kagome."

I rode Aunt Ami's bike down to the store, and got several of what she was looking for. The old lady behind the counter ignored what I was buying as always, smiled at me. "Have a good evening, Miss."

I rode the bike back, and brought the tests to Kikyo. I put them in her shaking hands, and said, "You want me to stay with you?"

She nodded, and I sat down on her bed. It was strange; Kikyo wasn't too bad when she was in a venerable situation. She was almost nice.  
She went in the bathroom for a few minutes, and came out with a white, "The test says that you have to wait ten to twenty minutes for it to change from yellow to blue. 'If the test does not react within 25 minutes, female is not positive for pregnancy.'"

We sat on her bed with her holding the stick; I watched my phone's timer, announcing each five minutes as it passed.

By the time we got to the third increment of five minutes, there was already a tiny blue corner on the edge. It wasn't the bright blue that you saw in commercials; it was a dingy, green-blue.

"Kagome?" She pointed to the growing blue speck on the edge.

I didn't say anything, and we both started crying again as the blue fleck got larger and larger. Eventually, the entire half of the stick was blue.

"Lets do another one, it could have been a fluke."

We did another one, and by dinner time it was blue too. "Kikyo… What do you want to do?"

I knew that it was a bad idea for Kikyo to be having a child at 18 years old, and she obviously did too.

"Abortion is always bad, but I can barely keep you alive and you're my age…" I chuckled at her, and agreed. She wiped her tears, and said, "I need to tell my mom…"

"She will kill you, Kikyo."

"I think that you need to talk this over with Inuyasha and his family… How many different boys have you slept with since you started skipping periods?"

"I have irregular periods, so it is hard to be sure. I thought when I started missing them about three months ago, it was just normal. But… Look."

She lifted up her shirt, and her normally too-small waist was slightly bulging out. She had to be at least a few months pregnant already, no doubt.

"From the beginning of the summer to the beginning of the school year, the only guy I slept with was Inuyasha, so I am pretty sure that it is his."

"Oh Kikyo… I don't know what to do."

"I have been sick the last couple mornings, and according to this," she pulled her laptop over to her, "It means that I am anywhere from eight to twelve weeks along."

"Kikyo… Lets go over to Inuyasha's right now, come on."

"No, wait! I don't want to tell them! I want to get rid of it, and pretend that it never happened!"

"If you don't tell them, I will. I think that they would prefer that it came from you."

She started crying again, and said, "I don't want this baby…"

"Izayoi and Touga need to help you make that decision, Inuyasha doesn't even need to know. Come on," I pulled her hand up, and she stumbled to stand.

"I will c-call the chauffer," She pulled out her phone, and speed-dialed a number.

"Haru, get over here right now."

She hung up on the man without waiting for an answer, and he was over almost instantly.

"Kikyo, come on, put on some makeup," I put her makeup bag out, and she powdered her face lightly. She fixed her lipstick, and brushed her hair.

"Let's go," I pulled her out of her room, and down the stairs.

"Mother, we are going out to eat tonight at Inuyasha's, we will be back in a few hours," Kikyo didn't even wait for her mother to respond, and we were out the door.

When we were about halfway there, Kikyo broke down again. "Let me just have an abortion, I don't want this…"

"Kikyo, come on, you just need to talk to them first. This is their grandchild," I tried to talk smoothly for the time being.

I had already texted Sesshomaru that I was coming over, and he asked why.

I ignored his question, and texted back, 'Kikyo and I need to speak to your parents, it is important.'

He had sent back 'okay' but I knew that he was curious now.

Kikyo tried to keep herself calm, but to no avail.

"What if they get mad?"

"They won't get mad at you, they will be mad at him."

"I know, but…"

They opened the door to us, with confused looks. "Come in, please."

Kikyo kept her arms around her middle and her face down. I pulled her inside, and we all went straight to their dining room table. It was obvious that we had interrupted their dinner, because all of the uneaten food was still steaming on the counter, with a jumbled mess of silverware and plates next to it.

As soon as Touga sat down, Kikyo started bawling. I knew that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru would be in the next room eavesdropping, and I wondered what they thought was going on.

"Kikyo, dear, what is it? You can tell us."

She eventually covered her face and sobbed on the table cloth, and I could see Izayoi flinch when she did.

The looked at me, and I decided I would have to do it. I said, in a hushed tone, "Kikyo thinks that she is pregnant with Inuyasha's baby."

Their jaws dropped, and they looked like their world as they knew it had just fallen apart. Izayoi got up and excused herself; I think she was going to go and tell Inuyasha.

Touga remained calm, as if he had seen this coming. "We are going down to a clinic right now, and having the parentage tested. Calm down, Kikyo."

Kikyo tried to calm herself, and it worked for a little while. "They already have Inuyasha's blood samples, let's go."

I got up with them, and Touga said, "You really don't have to come…"

Kikyo grabbed me as if I was her life line, and Touga shrugged. "Come on."

It was about an hour drive to the clinic, and I was surprised that Touga didn't even bother to call as it was so late. It was almost 7:30 at night on a Friday, but I trusted his judgment.

On the way no one said a word; Kikyo calmed herself down, and re-did her make up again.

We went inside the clinic and the receptionist instantly knew who we were. There were people in the waiting room, but took us in anyways.

We went into a lab of some kind in the very back, where there was an intern looking at blood under a microscope.

"Yes?"

"We need to see Dr. Seniti, please."

The confused young girl jumped out of her chair and retrieved the man who they were looking for, and an odd looking man walked in.

His unusual facial structure resembled the Takahashi's, but he had flaming red hair. He was very tall, even more so than Touga.

"What can I do for you today, Touga?"

"I need a DNA test. This girl, Kikyo, says that she is pregnant with Inuyasha's child."

The man raised his eyebrows for a second, and said, "Okay, I will pull out the blood samples."

He put his key in some kind of mini-refrigerator, and pulled out one of three trays inside it. He pulled out one with a label on it, and put it under a lab microscope.

"Miss Kikyo, please urinate in this cup."

She went into the designated bathroom, and came out a few minutes later with the cup half full.

The doctor put half of the liquid into a machine, and disposed of the rest.

"I will be back in a bit; this machinery needs to heat up. It will produce three pieces of paper, one with Inuyasha's, one with Kikyo's, and one with the baby's DNA. Sometimes it will not catch the baby's, and sometimes it will. Every once in awhile, I will have to try several times to get it right.

He left, and we sat in silence for a while, until Kikyo spoke up, "I don't want this baby."

"If this is Inuyasha's, we have some talking to do back at the house."

She repeated herself, and he said, again, "We will discuss all of our options when we return to my home. Please, calm down."

Kikyo gave up, but looked worried. I wondered what he was talking about too, but I guess we would find out later. I had noticed that the female intern stopped her work while we were talking; she was definitely listening in on their conversation.

We sat there for about another hour, with Dr. Seniti regularly poking his head in on us. Finally, the machine spat out three pieces of paper, and Dr. Seniti walked in as soon as it did.

He looked over them, and said in a calm voice, "The results came out correct, and it is most definitely Inuyasha's child."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, absolutely."

Kikyo breathed a sigh of relief, but Touga and I were definitely unhappy.

"Lets go back to the house, we have some talking to do."

We followed him back out and got into the car.

As soon as we did, Touga started talking. "Kikyo, the reason we had to go so far out of town to have a DNA test done is because my family line has a few rarities that concern offspring. This far along, an abortion would be impossible, unless they were to remove all of your female organs with the fetus. We will discuss this at my house."

We sat in silence the rest of the way, both Kikyo and I contemplating what all of this meant.

…


	9. Chapter 9

When we returned home, everyone was already seated around the table. Izayoi looked like she had been crying, and Sesshomaru and Inuyasha both had stone masks on.

Kikyo, Touga, and I all filed in, and there was one less seat than we needed.

Touga said, "Let me go and get another chair-"

Sesshomaru jumped up, and said, "I need to explain things to Kagome myself, father."

He nodded, and Sesshomaru pointed to the staircase for us to go upstairs.

I wondered what in the world was going on, but I supposed that I would find out soon.

We went into his bedroom, and he sat down on the bed.

"Kagome… You know that I like you, right?"

"Yes, I do," he was being so serious that I couldn't even be joyous about it.

"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, you know?"

I nodded, and wiped away a tear. Was he going to tell me that his family had some sort of incurable disease?

"I want to marry you one day, but there are some things that you need to know about my family. I didn't think that I would have to tell you for a long time, until now…"

I prompted him to go on, and he said, "This is going to sound crazy, Kagome, but it is the truth. I need you to believe me, even if it seems like I am making up a story."

I sat up straight, Indian style, and said, "Go ahead, you have my full attention."

"My hair and eye color is not a genetic mishap; it is for a reason. I am not seventeen years old, I am almost two thousand."

I laughed at him, and he said, "I knew that you wouldn't take this seriously…"

He took a thin gold chain from around his neck, and I was shocked at the transformation. Bizarre tattoos formed on his face and hands, his hair grew, and he grew almost two feet taller. Sesshomaru said, "Please don't be scared, Kagome. This is me, without any enchantments hiding anything."

I did get scared, and decided that he wasn't kidding. "Okay, I believe you now."

"My family comes from a line of dog demons," He got up from his perch on the bed, and pulled a large painting out of the closet. I noticed that he had to crouch down to look inside his closet, and his size compared to everything in the room was unreal. The painting was of his father and another woman with long white hair, and ancient-looking garb on. "This is my parents, the day that they were married over two thousand years ago. I know that this sounds strange and crazy, but you have to trust me. My father was a demon lord, and my mother was a demoness. Inuyasha is about six hundred and eighty. Izayoi was a princess in the feudal era, seven hundred years ago. My mother didn't run off at my birth, but she and my father were married in a traditional arranged marriage for youkai that ended when I was a child.

"Demons live for a long time, and they can choose one mate in their lifetime. My father chose Izayoi, so as long as he is alive, so is she. We are not sure his exact year of my birth, because the calendars back then were not accurate. Kagome, are you okay?"

"Sesshomaru… This is really bizarre. Why are you in high school, then?"

"Because we have to live in a modern society. The government keeps track of people, as you know, and it became more and more noticeable that there was an odd-looking family who was indefinitely young. So, we started having to do this about eighty years ago. Every ten years we change location, and leave behind nothing. People who remember us from our last identities who have tried to track us down have found it impossible. Normally I start out as a Junior in high school, and Inuyasha as a freshman. My father usually either chooses to open a small business or be a lawyer, and Izayoi a housewife. We have gone back and forth between America and here for the last few changes.

"It is hard on Inuyasha especially, and I suspect that this is the reason that he decides to consort with whores like Kikyo. We have never had this issue with his girlfriends before, mainly because the ones in the past were more responsible."

"Sesshomaru… this is so strange… I just have a hard time believing it."

He sighed, and pulled out what looked like something a construction worker would use. "Last year in physics, we needed this solid iron rod for a project… Try to pick it up."

He put it down on the bed, and I tried with one hand. It was very heavy, and didn't budge.

"Watch," He picked it up easily, and in a few quick motions tied the thing in a knot.

"Wow…"

"Believe me now?"

I made a face as if I was skeptical, and said, "I think that I am dreaming."

Sesshomaru then proceeded to squeeze the rod in his hand, and when he was done there was a perfect imprint of his hand. He looked up expectantly, and I just shook my head. It was too much.

He rolled his eyes, and said, "Come out on the balcony."

I walked out onto the balcony off of his room, and he said, "Always have to make sure that they neighbors aren't watching…" He looked around, "Okay."

Without another word, he let himself over the railing, and let go. I felt like I was having a heart attack; my boyfriend was insane, and was trying to prove that he was some kind of super strong freaky man.

I looked over the railing instantly, and he was fine. "That was nothing. Watch."

He crouched down for a split second, and jumped up to the balcony. He let himself over the railing, and said, "That is nothing… there just isn't anywhere around here that I could show you much."

We went back in his bedroom, and I asked him, "You have been around for so long… Have you ever been married?"

"I was betrothed when I was just old enough, but the demoness changed her mind. I have had many admirers, but no girlfriends or wives. You are number one, Kagome."

I smiled, and said, "Good, that's the way I like it. Doesn't that make our relationship illegal though?"

He made a face, and said, "The government doesn't even know that I exist, what you mean?"

"You are about my age times 200, isn't there something against that?"

He chuckled, and said, "No, there is not."

"So… If you were a human, how old would you be?"

"I suspect around 21, but it cannot be determined. There are no years to divide or multiply, like real dogs. Inuyasha is probably around 15 to 17, we think."

"So… what does this mean about Kikyo's baby?"

He sighed, and said, "It is impossible to abort the baby, at this point. Unless she has all of her female organs removed. I suspect that we would move again, if she had the child. Also, there is little chance that it would survive anyways. Most half-demons like Inuyasha do, let alone a ¼ demon. I doubt that the child would have a demon's life span, maybe just some extra strength and speed. Inuyasha's abilities are far lower than those of me and my father."

I sat for a moment, and said, "What would happen to Kikyo, if the baby didn't make it?"

"She would probably die."

I didn't like my abuser-cousin, but I didn't want her to die from this.

"Are your parents going to tell Kikyo all of this?"

"Probably not… I suspect that they will only tell her the basics that children born in our family rarely live and have drastic side effects on the mother. They will probably just tell her that it would be best if she had everything removed for her own health and safety."

"I don't like that, but I suppose it is the only way. Do you want children?"

"No, Inuyasha is a big enough child for me," I laughed, and he continued, "There are lots of demon children out there, in testing labs and such. We have broken one out of a bad facility, and re located it to a home that could take care of it."  
We talked more and more about the nuts and bolts of being a demon like Sesshomaru, and then he said, "Oh… I forgot demons don't sleep."

"What? Like, never?" He had been faking all this time?

"Yes, unless I am injured. I don't like human food either, but Izayoi insists that she cooks it for me. It hurts her feelings when I don't eat it, so I make an attempt for her."

We talked and until it was almost midnight. I looked over at the clock, and it read 11:45.

"Is Kikyo still here?" I would be surprised if Sesshomaru's parents and Inuyasha were still talking to my cousin.

"Yes, she is in the guest bedroom," he picked up his keys, and said, "I probably should take you home."

"No, it's too late and my aunt would be hacked if I disrupted her sleep at this time of night. Let me borrow one of your shirts, and I will sleep on the couch."

"No, I will pretend to sleep on the couch if Kikyo wakes up and comes downstairs, and you can sleep in here. I have never even slept in this bed, Kagome."

"But-"

"Please, I would feel like a bad host if I made you sleep on the couch when I don't sleep here," He pointed to his picture perfect bed, "at all."

His towering over me by about three feet convinced me. I took his word for it, and slept in the bed. It smelled like a department store, which didn't surprise me since he had never slept in it.

……..


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, Touga woke me up at an ungodly time. "We are leaving to take Kikyo to an abortion clinic in Tokyo. Your aunt thinks that we are taking her on a biking trip, and the story is going to be that she fell off and injured her stomach and had to have surgery. She might call you, so just act like you didn't know anything except that we went out biking. Kikyo will probably be in the clinic for several days, so I am going to leave you and Sesshomaru here."

"Okay, can I go back to sleep?" He chuckled at me, and granted me permission.

Just before he exited, he whispered, "Use condoms!"

The old man's jokes made me laugh, and woke me up slightly. I looked over at my clock, and it was 5:00 A.M.

I took a shower, and afterwards used some of the makeup from my purse. My hair would dry straight, so I would look like I normally did.

I went into the living room to find Sesshomaru flipping channels on the couch. "Demons watch television?"

"Not unless they are very bored."

"Hmm… What do you want to do?"

"Show you some family history," He got up, and grabbed my hand softly (I almost squealed!). He led me by hand up to their attic, and he pointed to three large crates.

"This is only about half of what we own, but the rest is in storage."

"What all is in there?"

He easily opened the huge wooden boxes, and started pulling out sealed bags with kimono inside them. "These are inside here like this because they are very old and fragile, except for this."

He pulled out a large piece of red cloth that turned out to be an ancient men's garment. "This was Inuyasha's when he was just becoming a man, not that he is a very responsible one," he let me feel the fabric, "It is near-indestructible material, and it will be a long time before it starts to decay."

"This was the sword that Inuyasha and I fought long and hard over… Until we had to band together as a family, I rarely saw Inuyasha, my father, or Izayoi until about a hundred years ago when the humans started annihilating the demons who showed themselves to the humans.

"Anyways, my father gave us each a sword; he gave me a healing sword. I used to be very… Cruel, and destructive. I did wind up finding the uses of it when I grew more compassionate."

"My father gave Inuyasha a very powerful destructive blade. I can't even touch it, watch," he put his finger near the hilt, and it sparked at him. "He designed the blade specifically so that I could not wield it, and it did its job. It transformed into a very large, better looking sword than that, but in its human state it is not much to look at," It looked like a chunk of rust in a sheath to me, but he insisted otherwise.

"This was my sword, Tenseiga. It can save the life of an individual only once, and then they are on their own. When my human ward, Rin, was killed a second time, my mother helped me to bring her back from hell. That is the only other way that I know of to keep someone alive."

"Is your mother still alive?"

He sighed, and said, "I lost track of her about two hundred years ago, but haven't seen her since. I never got word of her death, so I suspect that she is still alive."

I wanted to get away from the subject for his sake, so I looked in the crate for another topic. There was a bunch of chunks of jumbled metal, and I asked, "What in the world is all of that?"

"It is battle armor," he lifted a piece of it up and out, and I saw odd spikes all over it. "This was my new set of armor just before we started to have to blend in as humans. It was only in two battles," He sighed, and continued, "demons normally wore this to protect themselves, because the only real way to kill a demon is to take off their head completely or do extensive damage to the chest."

"Wow… sounds like things were rough back in those days."

"They were, so I am glad that I was one of the most powerful."

I didn't really know what to say to this, so I asked, "So… if you chose someone as your mate, they would live forever?"

"Yes, but it isn't really known until something life-threatening happens to the person. Like, my father thought he had chosen Izayoi as his mate when she gave birth to Inuyasha, but she aged until she was around forty. It is very tricky, and I hope to mate you one day."

"Does mating require…?" He got my point easily.

"No, it just affection for one another. I may already have chosen you, but we wont know for sure until something bad happens to you… which we wont test that out."

"Good… Has anyone ever written a book about all this? It really would make a great story."

"We have to be discreet… My father has loads of money, but we can't buy the houses that we would enjoy the most. We would live closer or inside Tokyo, but we chose this place because it is more remote."

I sat for a minute, and said, "If we get married, and all that good stuff, the next time you relocate I will have to do so also?"

"I… probably. I have a much younger female cousin, Haruna, who lives on the southern coast of England, and I think that we may relocate there. Souta may come with us, if he wishes."

"That would be wonderful… You said ten years?"

"Well, in about eight and a half from this point."

"That means that if I live for a long time, like Izayoi…. I will outlive him."

"Haruna is unmated; she is actually matured to about a 7 year old child. She might like Souta."

"Funny, are we really setting up my brother?"

"No, just a thought."

……

We sat around, I ate, did homework and studied, and we talked most of the day. It was so strange, looking at Sesshomaru with stripes on his cheeks, and a moon on his forehead. I hadn't seen it last night, but there were stripes on his hands and legs also. He was so much taller than I; I was almost scared of his ridiculous height.

We received word from Izayoi around dinner that Kikyo was fine and well from the surgery, and that Aunt Ami had been notified. They discovered apparently that they didn't have to remove everything as they planned, but only part of her uterus.

"I suppose that the baby was already dead, because it didn't ever attach to the wall of her uterus."

"Why is that?"

"When human females bare youkai demon offspring, there are some species confusion and the baby will attach itself to the wall of the mother's uterus. These normally cause the female organs to shut down and never work correctly again, so that is why we had planned on having to remove all of it. But, it seems that the baby died somewhere along the line, and either detached or never attached itself."

"I am glad; will Kikyo be able to have children later on in life?"

"It won't happen on accident; she would have to go to a fertility clinic and have it made and put into another mother's uterus."

"I see… That's much better. We don't need any more Kikyo's running around."

"Very true, Kagome."

……….

The next day, around noon as planned, I went back to be with Aunt Ami. She was actually joyous that Kikyo was spending part of the week with Inuyasha and his parents.

"Oh, this is just perfect, now they must like her for sure!"

My aunt had me catch up on chores again, and afterwards I spent the evening texting Sesshomaru. I asked him, "Are you faster than the speed of light?"

"Yes."

"Show me how long it takes for you to be outside my bedroom window."

I only had to wait about 30 seconds, because I saw fingers holding onto my 2nd story window. I opened it up, and he climbed inside.

"You think the neighbors saw me?"

"No, they are gone for the weekend," I hadn't even thought about what the neighbors would think, but I am sure that they had seen Inuyasha climb down a few times.

"So… what do you want to do?"

I was lying on my bed, and he was sitting next to me.

"Hold still…" he leaned down to me, and caressed my neck with his face. He kissed me on the lips, and I was practically in heaven. Sesshomaru's now-long hair tickled my chest, and I thought I might just die from excitement. I had never even kissed a boy, let alone a big scary demon.

I looked up to see him lying down beside me. He put his hand under my neck while we kissed, and massaged the back of my head. I scooted closer to his body, and found it to be very warm.

Suddenly, he jumped up from our position. "Your aunt is coming, see you tomorrow."

He was up and out of my room in a flash, and it was when he was gone that I heard my aunt's footsteps coming up the staircase. He really did have super hearing.

"Kagome, Kikyo just called and she wants to talk to you."

"Okay, Aunt Ami."

She tossed the phone on my bed before I could get up from my upside down book I was pretending to read, and I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Kagome?"

"Yeah, how is everything there?"

"I am pretty drugged up with medication."

I sniggered some, and said, "How does your stomach feel? Sesshomaru told me that they didn't have to take out near as much as they thought."

"Nope, I am still a girl," I couldn't believe what Kikyo was saying.

"Um… You get your rest, alright?"

"I feel like I am floating up in the sky…"

I hung up the phone, and handed it to Sesshomaru. "Could you hear that?"

"Yes, very similar to when you were in the hospital last weekend."

"Very funny, those drugs really make you confused and silly."

"Good thing I never have to do any of that."

"You have never had surgery, and you have been around for 2000 years?"

"Demons heal fast, and hardly ever get sick. I once had a human illness as a small child, and have not had any problems since."

"Really? Well, when you go in for surgery you have to take off all jewelry, so they would be looking at this," I gestured to his huge, ethereal façade. I sighed.

I jumped up about three feet, and said, "Wait, when did you get back in here?"

He laughed his first true laugh at me, and said, "It took you that long to remember that I left, Kagome? Maybe I should mate you now, so that I don't wait too long and you have gone crazy."

I playfully hit his arm, and he hit me back. "Ouch, Sesshomaru!"

It didn't hurt, but I wanted to make him think that it did. "I'm sorry, Kagome."

"Ha, fooled you!"

He gave me an unpleasant look, and said, "That was not funny. I could have broken a bone in your arm."

"Oh cheer up, I was just kidding."

He laid down next to me and said, "Go to sleep, we have school tomorrow."

"Will you be here when I wake up?"

"Maybe, I have an idea. What if I do your chores at night, since I will be up anyways, and then when you get up in the morning you just have to pretend like you are doing them? Your aunt isn't smart enough to know the difference."

I protested, but he said, "I will be able to hear your aunt coming, so go to sleep. She is already snoring."

I laid down next to him, and curled up against his back. "I love you, Sesshomaru."

"I love you too, Cinderella."

…..


	11. Chapter 11

I fell asleep, but my bed heater left after awhile, leaving me cold. I didn't wake up, but when my alarm buzzed at 6:00 the next morning, he was standing by my bed.

"I think that I deserve a kiss…" He pointed out the door, "Because I don't think that you will ever have to clean in here again."

I got up, and put my arms around his stiff frame. I stood on my tip toes, and kissed his chin. "You missed."

"Your too tall, how many feet are you in this form?"

"About seven feet and two inches, roughly. I haven't ever measured."

"Well, thank you Sesshomaru."

He whispered, "Your aunt is coming to make sure that you are awake," he was out the window in an instant."

I quickly put on my cleaning clothes, and got to work.

I passed Aunt Ami, who looked like a scary zombie at this time of day, and went down into the kitchen.

"What would you like me to do, Aunt Ami?"

She had looked around obviously, and said, "Dust everything; this place needs a good dusting."

"Alright, go back to bed. You seem very tired."

"I am not feeling well, my head isn't right," she was obviously referring to the fact that she couldn't remember me perfect-cleaning the house top to bottom yesterday.

I silently thanked Sesshomaru, and then proceeded to fake-dust the furniture in the living room, sitting room, Kikyo's room, and then I got dressed.

When I was looking in the mirror and fixing my makeup, I saw Sesshomaru behind me. I jumped, and said, "How long have you been in here?"

"The whole time. I must say, underneath that uniform is a very beautiful girl."

I got up and charged over to him, and he put his hands up. "Just kidding, I didn't watch any of that. I was actually pulling my car around front, so I better go and get it before your aunt notices."

He was out the window in an instant, and when I finished my make up I heard a honk outside.

I picked up my bag and all of my books, and went down stairs to meet him.

I got in his car, and said, "Morning, again."

"You too, I brought you something," he pointed to a plastic plate with two pastries. I knew that Izayoi made them, because the previous weekend I helped her to produce the same ones.

"Awesome, one for Souta too!"

We rode over to Souta's, and I said, "Souta is going to be disappointed that Inuyasha isn't here… What should I tell him?"

"Just that there was an emergency with his ex-girlfriend, and he had to be with her for the weekend. That is why you didn't go and see him, correct?"

"I actually forgot, between everything that was going on. I will make it up to him today, though."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I don't get to see you today… Will you sneak in?"

He nodded, and said, "For a little while, though. You need to do some of your homework yourself, you know? It is my best study method, personally."

"I know… but it is so easy when you do it."

He looked over at me and gave me a look. "Fine, don't come over until I tell you that I am finished."

"Good."

……

I was constantly asked all day long about Kikyo and what happened, and I probably said over a hundred times that she was fine and in the hospital.

It was as if everyone went from hating her to caring about her over the weekend. It was strange, because there was so much negativity surrounding the girl.

It was also as if everyone's minds had been erased of every time she had stolen their boyfriend, broken up with them, trodden on them emotionally, and wronged them.

I was pretty peeved by the time I was out of school, but seeing Souta brightened me up.

I had asked Sesshomaru if it was going to be okay of Souta came over every once in awhile, because he didn't get out much from my aunt's house.

"So I get to go to Inuyasha's house tomorrow after school?"

"Yep, but it will probably only be Sesshomaru and me there. Is that okay?"

"That's awesome!"

"I already talked to them and Aunt Higurashi about it, and they said okay."

"Sis, what happened to cousin Kikyo? One of my teachers asked me if she is okay."

I was really peeved then, but didn't show it to Souta. "She was bike riding and fell, and she hurt her tummy. She had to have some surgery, but she is going to be fine."

"Aw no…" He made a face.

"You be nice, mom wouldn't have wanted to hear that."

"I know… Has she gotten any nicer?"

"A bit… When I talked to her on the phone from the hospital she was very pleasant."

"Ha, your joking!"

We joke around about Kikyo for a long while, and hung out with Aunt Higurashi. She had the mind of a 40 year old, but unfortunately the body of someone was not able to do much. I felt bad for her, and I was eternally grateful that I might not have to die anytime soon.

………

After school, I only had to do the dishes that Aunt Ami had managed to dirty up, and clean the places she couldn't see like on top of the fan blades.

It seemed that Sesshomaru had sparkle cleaned from literally the ceiling to floor, because the only dirt and messes that I could find were made today by Aunt Ami.

As soon as I finished studying, I texted Sesshomaru.

While I was waiting impatiently in my room, I heard an odd buzzing outside my window. Then, Sesshomaru jumped through my window, and softly onto the floor.

"Was that your phone making that noise?" I hugged him, though I had seen him a few hours earlier.

"Yes."

"Were you waiting out there for very long?"

"Yes, how is the wicked stepmother treating Cinderella?" He jested, and it made me swoon. Sesshomaru joking?

"Oh, today wasn't bad at all. You should have seen her this morning, it was hilarious. Thank you, so so much!"

"You are welcome, it didn't take me very long or much effort. It saved you hours, I would bet."

"Of course," I sat down on my bed, and patted the spot next to me.

He stood still before me, and I asked, "What is the matter?"

"Kagome, kissing is fine, but don't expect anything else."

"That's fine, more than I have ever done."

He stared through me, with a dead pan look. "Kagome, this is serious. Kikyo could have been in the hospital for weeks from this, and definitely never participated in school sports again. I just don't want to get carried away."

I sighed, and said, "I know," I put my hand in his, and mad him sit down next to me on the bed. "We are smarter and more cautious than they were, and I don't intend to do anything like that anytime until we get married."

He leaned over to me, and kissed me on the forehead. "You are just a saint, for putting up with me."

"No, you are the saint," I sighed, and said, "You already take care of so much for me, I sometimes think that I don't deserve you."

He gave me a look, and I got the feeling that this was getting to be a bit too emotional for him. "You need to go to sleep, Kagome."

I sighed, put my glasses on my night stand, and turned out the light. "Night, Sesshomaru."

"Good night, Cinderella."

……….


	12. Chapter 12

The next week was pleasant, until Kikyo came home. She was in an especially foul mood, obviously from the surgery.

She was back to her normal self, complete with my list of chores every evening. Thankfully, Inuyasha's family now had some leverage against her…

I was over on Thursday, with Souta when they arrived home. Izayoi called us all down into the kitchen, when they came in.

She sent Souta up to the game room with a bowl of ice cream, and we all sat down again.

This time, there were enough chairs.

"Kikyo, we have some things to discuss with Kagome, correct?" She nodded, and looked very uncomfortable.

"Basically, Kagome, Kikyo will be civil towards you, and will not boss you around. If she does not comply with this, everyone will know that she had an abortion done. Got it, girls?" Touga was looking straight at Kikyo the entire time he was talking.

She looked at me, and we nodded. I looked over at Touga, and mouthed 'thank you'. He nodded, and not another word was said on the subject.

"I will have Sesshomaru take Kikyo home, and Inuyasha take Souta. I want to talk to Kagome, in private," Izayoi taking charge of her husband was like watching a mouse chase a cat. She hadn't yet said a negative word to him in my presence, but he didn't seem to mind.

After Sesshomaru left with Kikyo, I hugged and kissed Souta goodbye. "See you later, kiddo!"

"See you, sis," he got close to my ear, and said, "They have awesome video games, mom would have had a fit!"

I nodded, and we parted.

Izayoi motioned me to sit down at the kitchen table, and I wondered what she wanted to talk about. "So, how incredibly cool is Sesshomaru's demon form?"

I was surprised; I thought she was going to ask me about what Sesshomaru and I had been doing in my bedroom. "I was a bit freaked out at first, but it is really awesome!"

"I know, you should see Touga, he is like eight feet tall. He is a lot more fearsome than Sesshomaru."

"I would think so, considering that he is so tall already. I was so surprised…"

"I'll bet that it is hard to imagine that they are so old, huh?"

"Yeah, it is. Has Sesshomaru ever…?"

"Nope, didn't take his word for it?" She smiled at me, knowingly.

"Well, he has been around for a long time, so I just assumed…"

"I thought the same; he is such a catch… Well, you're just a lucky girl I suppose."

"His strength is so incredible."

"You should see them when they have room to really let loose… I haven't seen it in awhile, but they usually go to our property in Texas over the holidays for some practice. You would probably never guess what Inuyasha looks like in his demon form."

"What?"

"He has dog ears!"

"Oh my goodness, I have to see that!"

We talked and jabbered about them for awhile, and she asked me, "Kagome, I know that Sesshomaru really cares about you, so when we change identities and locations again you and Souta are very welcome to come along." I bowed to her, and she waved her hand as if to say 'not necessary', and continued, "I have never been to England, so I can't wait until then! It has been nice living back home, here… Did he tell you how old I was?"

"Yes, I must say that you are very wrinkle-free for someone over 100 years old!"

She laughed at me, and said, "I must say, Touga is impressively wrinkle-free for someone who bore all the elements for so many centuries without moisturizer."

I nodded, and said, "Was there something that you wanted to talk about in particular."

She nodded to me, and leaned in, "Please don't make me a grandma biologically. Touga and I had Inuyasha completely ignorant of what the consequences would be. I was extremely lucky to survive it, and now we know how dangerous that was. What happened with Kikyo could have easily killed her, and I am very glad it did not, despite my dislike for the girl."

I agreed, and said, "Absolutely, don't worry."

"Oh I won't, because you are going to take these once every three months," She pointed to a small box sitting on the table, and opened it. "I like you Kagome, I am doing this for your own good."

She opened the box, to reveal three loaded syringes. "This was actually formulated for me, but I got this for you, and they will keep you from getting pregnant with absolutely anything."

"I don't plan on-"

"This is to keep our minds at ease, please Kagome."

"I really don't think that will be necessary…" The stern, but concerned face that she made reminded me of my mother so much, that I just gave in. "But I guess if it will make you feel better, its fine."  
She pulled out a note from inside the box, and asked, "What day will you start your period this months?"

I thought for a second, and said, "Tomorrow."

"Oh, perfect!"

She picked up a syringe, and before I could say anything to protest she had it in my arm (I happened to have my hands folded on the table).

I watched the small amount of liquid go into my arm, and she finished quickly. "Good, I will be at ease for the next three months. Oh, oops! Do you have a history of liver, kidney, heart, asthma, abnormal brain growths, or bale movement problems?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, nothing!"

…

Later on, Sesshomaru took me back home.

"I am sure with your super hearing that your heard what your mother and I talked about?"

"Some of it, is this still sore?"

He pointed to my bandaged arm, and I said, "No, I don't even feel it."

"May I?"

"Go ahead," he uncovered the bandage for a second, to reveal a slight brown bruise forming already. "Maybe next time you should do it…"

"I thought it was silly of her not to trust us, but I get that she just cares. I will, I have been to medical school twice."

"Really? When did you go the first time?"

"In the 1940's, and I knew from every day experiences with humans that some of the things that they taught weren't true. I went back in the 90's, and I majored in cancer cell research."

"Wait, don't they post pictures on the internet of doctors and their backgrounds?"

"Yes they do, which is why we change our appearances every time we move, and the demon world has its own agents that delete pictures and videos that would suggest our existence."

"That's good, or else the CIA might track you down."

"The Japanese government is prohibited from tracking us down, it is classified as 'recreational pursuits of civilians', which means that unless they get an assignment that they have to track one of us down, they can't harm us or lock us up. They have gotten stricter about keeping up with citizens, but we are evasive."

"Wow… and I will become a part of this if we get married?"

"Yes, and when we move next time this hair," he touched my long, wavy hair, and said in a sad air, "will all have to be cut short, and your wardrobe will all have to go. Izayoi always wants to hang onto some of hers, but we all know that it has to go. She is definitely the worst one about not cutting her hair, but now with so little privacy and the government keeping up with everyone, we will all have to go as human as possible."

"So… how exactly do you guys manage to buy everything new and start all over every ten years? I mean, that is really expensive, even if your dad is a lawyer or a business man."

"My dad put all of our money in stocks in American companies over the years, all of which made at least 600% a year in profits for the years that he had them. He is really good at predicting the markets rise and fall; it is part of being able to be awake 24/7. You have to have something to do."

"True… does Izayoi sleep?"

"Yes, like a normal human. When Inuyasha was young, he would go to ridiculous ends to keep his mother up… She was not in good spirits a lot of the time."

"I would think so. Does Inuyasha sleep?"

"Yes, when he is stressed out, like now."

"Poor guy…"

"I do not pity his ignorance."

"True, I need to take a shower… Will you wait on me?"

"Of course."

"Oh, before I forget, leave some cleaning for me to do, please. The dishes would be fine," I blew him an air kiss, and went across the hall to take my shower.

I raced through what I had to do, making sure that I had enough time to stay up and talk with Sesshomaru for a bit before I went to sleep.

…

"Sesshomaru, what do you do when I sleep?"

"I do some cleaning at this house, then normally go home for a few hours, change clothes and look over my homework, and then come back here a few minutes before you wake up."

"You have never stayed?"

"Not all night, except for the first time I cleaned the whole house. I must say, your aunt and Kikyo are sure messy."

"They can be, but I think Kikyo is getting a lot better. Ever since your parents threatened her, she has just ignored me. It is nice, really."

"I think it is getting late and you need some sleep, Kagome."

I sighed, and said, "You have to kiss me first, I mean really kiss me."

He smirked, leaned down, and kissed me. At first, I was disappointed because it was just a soft little kiss like usual, but it things got hot fast.

We kissed until I ran out of breath, and I finally had to break it because I was blue in the face.

"Again?" I smiled at him, pleading.

"Goodnight, Cinderella." I turned out the lamp light, and I laid down next to him.

"Night, Stripes."

"What?"

"You have a bunch of maroon stripes, so you are Stripes."

"Well… I suppose it makes sense. It would be better than Mooney."

I giggled, and he put an arm around me. "Go to sleep."

"Fine, Stripes."


	13. Chapter 13

…….

The next day, at lunch, Sango and I sat across from each other as always. When I was talking about something completely different, Sango leaned in and went 'psst' like she meant for something to be private.

"What?"

"I know that Kikyo really wasn't bike riding that day."

"What?" Uh oh…

"The paths that Inuyasha said that they were at that weekend, my uncle owns the place."

"I am pretty sure she was there, I don't know where else they would have been."

"My uncle was signing guests in and out all day both days, and there was never a Kikyo who got hurt or a white-haired boy with her."

"I don't know, why does it matter?"

"Because I saw her stomach when she bent over yesterday; it was a hysterectomy!"

"What?!" OH NO! Sango couldn't tell anyone!

"Yeah, my mom had one a few months ago, and it is the exact same thing, with the tiny tape bandages and everything! Hasn't she been a bitch lately?"

"Not more than usual… Don't tell anyone though; I don't think that my aunt even knows. I don't know why she would have one, but I would bet it was a good reason."

"Normally girls who contract," She waited until a group of teenagers passed our table, and whispered, "really bad STD's have to have one. You know I had a cousin in Tokyo, the prostitute right?"

"Yes?"

"She had to have her girl parts cleaned out, because the same thing happened to her. I wonder if Inuyasha figured out that he had it, and then his parents knew that he got it from her?"

"That might be true… It sounds really far fetched."

"It makes sense, though, right?"

"Yeah… Let's keep that between us, please."

"Because you are dating his brother, and Kikyo is your cousin?"

"Yes!" I preyed to god that this would stay between us, no matter what.

"Sure, I am not a gossiper." I rolled my eyes, and looked at her.

"Well, to you maybe, but not to everyone else." I nodded in agreeance.

"If it gets out that you figured it out, and told everyone, she would think that I told you first. You know?"

"Yeah, too bad…. I would really like to get that girl back for everything."

"I know, but What Would Jesus Do?" I smirked at her face, and she hit her head dramatically on the table.

"Jesus wouldn't have even told you all of this, Jesus would have kept this to himself."

"Jesus would know not to say anything to anyone else, because Jesus's friend might just get crucified if everyone finds out," I winked at her, and she nodded solemnly.

………..

As soon as I got into Sesshomaru's car that afternoon, I said, "Sango figured out that Kikyo had a hysterectomy. When Kikyo bent over, Sango saw up her shirt and saw the scar and bandages."

"She isn't going to tell, is she?"

"No, I don't think so. But she knows, Sesshomaru."

We were already at Souta's house by now, and he whispered to me before I got out (It was a Friday, so I wouldn't spend the evening at his house), "Make sure she keeps it between you two, or else we could all be in big trouble."

"I will," I kissed him on his cheek, and I got out. He didn't even react, his stone cold visage didn't move one inch. He was so… human looking with his disguise, it was so odd for me to kiss someone so different from my gigantic demon boyfriend.

………

When Sesshomaru picked us up, he didn't say a word the entire time. I didn't push him, and I think that he didn't want me to either.

When I got out, he said, "I will see you later."

"Okay."

…

I rushed through my chores that Aunt Ami had faked during the day (dishes, vacuuming up her hair in the bathroom, and making the beds again), and then I went to Kikyo's room.

She was sitting at her vanity, admiring herself in the mirror. She turned to me, with a horribly angry look on her face. "So, you told your little friend that I had a hysterectomy?"

"No, Sango figured it out. Don't forget our agreement, Kikyo."

She dropped the act, and said, "Yes, I wont forget it. How did she figure it out, then?"

"Her uncle owns the biking place that you all supposedly went, and he didn't sign in a girl named Kikyo who got hurt, or a white haired boy with her. Then, when you bent over in class one day, she saw the scar and bandages on your stomach. Her mother has just had the same surgery, so she knew exactly what it was."

Kikyo cursed, and said, "She better not say anything to anyone, or I will make sure that you are her only friend until graduation."

"You better not do anything to her, or I will tell the Takahashi's to go ahead and tell everyone about the baby," I loved my new power. "It isn't her fault that she saw your stomach. _You_ should have concealed it better, Kikyo. Sango promised me that she wouldn't tell, I made sure of it."

Kikyo turned back around to her mirror, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and said in a squeaky voice, "Fine, whatever. Go away, Kagome."

I left, and felt somewhat bad that I had made her cry. Kikyo should have known better than to wear a loose shirt and not tuck it in, especially when she was trying to hide something like that.


	14. Chapter 14

……..

Later on, after I had done my homework and studying, I went ahead and took my shower and prepared for the next day of school.

When I was finished, I knocked softly on the window, and moved out of the way.

Sesshomaru came in, but he was still wearing his school uniform. He normally came over un-disguised, or at least in lounge wear.

"What-"

"Have you talked to Kikyo?"

"Yes."

"You told her what Sango saw and said?"

"Yes."

"You told her that if she did anything to Sango, we would punish her?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Before I could say anything, Inuyasha was in the room too.

"Wow, this place really is depress-"

We shushed him, and he whispered like us, "Sorry."

"What are you doing in here?"

"Just wanted to talk to you about exactly what Sango said," Inuyasha was obviously worried.

Sesshomaru and I sat down on my bed, and Inuyasha took my chair that went with my desk.

"Sango's uncle owns the biking place that you all claimed that she got hurt at, so she knew that the story about the biking incident wasn't true. Then, she told me that she saw Kikyo bend over and she saw her scar from the surgery. Sango's mother has just had the same type of surgery, and so she knew what it was. She suspects that Inuyasha figured out that he had a STD, and told Kikyo, and Inuyasha's family took her to have it fixed. She thinks that your family was involved because I told her that neither Aunt Ami nor I knew any of this."

Inuyasha nodded, and said, "She is going to keep it a secret, right?"

"Yes, she will," I was really putting a lot of faith into Sango… She better hold up her end of the deal.

"She better, or we are screwed. That would mean that Kikyo doesn't have to hold up her end of the bargain, and she could practically crucify you for it."

"I know… Do you want to have a sit down chat with Sango?"

"Oh, I will… Monday, at lunch, have her sit outside with you, and I will come by and sit down and chat with you two."

"If it isn't cold enough I should be able to convince her."

"Then make her," I nodded, agreeing with the scared boy.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, I will let you two get busy. That shot make you sick?" Inuyasha sniggered at the look on my face. Before I could say anything audible, he was out the window.

I turned to Sesshomaru, who was actually laughing.

"He is so not funny!"

"That is not what I was laughing at."

"What?"

"Inuyasha is only worried about all of this because he is worried about his reputation, not Kikyo."

"Oh… It makes sense… Why are you still wearing that?" I gestured to his uniform.

"Inuyasha has refused to let me out of his sight for the last two and a half hours."

I giggled, "He was that freaked out?"

"Yes, he wanted to interrupt you at your brother's house, but I wouldn't let him," Sesshomaru stood up, removed his jacket and un-did his tie.

He lay down on the bed beside me, looking like some kind of fashion model-god. His hair was so silky; draped itself over his shoulders perfectly. In the dim lighting, his eyes practically glowed yellow. When he spoke, he knocked me out of my dumb stupor. "Did you finish all of the work from AP Chemistry?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"She didn't teach how to do the last ten questions; I can show you if you like."

"Na, I looked it up in the book. My old chemistry class went over all this same stuff."

"I have learned this lesson at least eight times, so I am good too."

I almost said something back, but my stomach grumbled. He sat up, and said, "Did she feed you?"

"Yes, but it was a half a salad and a cheese stick. You don't have to-"

"What do you want?"

I sighed, knowing that he wouldn't give up. I think that the fact that I was getting to be so thin was really bothering him. "Just something that isn't very expensive, and isn't going to smell up this whole room. Aunt Ami would notice."

He nodded, and said, "I will be right back, don't go anywhere."

Sesshomaru jumped out the window, his hair being the last part of him to leave.

I went to the window, and looked up at the night's sky. I looked around, and found the brightest one.

I closed my eyes, and thought, 'Thanks mom… Sending me Sesshomaru has been a life saver. Is he some kind of angel?'

Of course, all the star could do is twinkle in return. 'I think that even if he is a demon… He has a saint's heart. Tell God up there that he needs to help Sesshomaru to be more open and accepting. Souta is doing great, as always. Aunt Higurashi is taking care of him very well, and I couldn't have asked for better for him. His teacher is fabulous, and very creative. You should see what art projects he comes home with!'

'Sesshomaru should be back in a minute. Just wanted to say thanks for all the blessings you have sent my way. Love you!'

I went back inside, and shut the window. It wasn't more than fifteen minutes before Sesshomaru was in again.

"I got this, it isn't much, but it was all I could think of that wouldn't have much of a smell."

He opened up a small, still steaming ham and cheese sandwich. There was a Coke on the side, and a bag of chips.

"Thanks!"

I started scarfing it down, and he said, "I almost went through Yuki's, but all of their food has too much flavoring and smells to it. Do you like this?"

"Absolutely… What kind of sandwich is this?"

"A panini, or something like that. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it is really good for American food."

I ate, and then he took all the trash out to the outdoor trashcan.

We talked for the rest of the evening, and we completed our evening kissing ritual as usual.

He had to leave early, because Aunt Ami was coming up the stairs.

"I will see you tomorrow morning, Cinderella."

"Bye!"

I waited with baited breath until Aunt Ami came in my room. She said, in a stern voice, "You have mail."

She dropped a huge stack of mail, dating back from the beginning of the school year. I was only amazed that she hadn't just thrown it away.

I went through it, and mostly it was college advertisements. With the job I was sure to get from the dentist's office, I didn't really need or want to go to college. Besides, I would be moving around with Sesshomaru.

I looked over at my calendar; I had been counting the number of days down that I would have until I got out of here. It was the middle of October, and I couldn't believe that only two and a half months had passed by. It seemed as though the events had taken the span of a year, not just a few months. Between my mother dying, being separated from Souta, going to live with Aunt Ami, falling for Sesshomaru, getting the lawyer and having surgery, Kikyo getting pregnant, and finding out that Sesshomaru was a demon all in the last ten week was a whirlwind that I could hardly keep up with.

……….

The weekend was slow, but fun. Sesshomaru and Inuyasha were taking a college entrance exam all day Saturday, so I spent the day with Izayoi.

It turned out that she had some family history of her own. She pulled out some old, dusty college books on her family.

"There, that's me," There was a painting on the front cover, and there was an ancient royal family depicted on the front cover. The woman next to the lord was surrounded by about six or seven children, and Izayoi pointed to the baby in her arms.

She opened the book to the Contents section, and there was a list of the king, his wives, and all of his children. "My mother was his main wife, so that is why I was in the painting."

She flipped to the chapter on herself, and said, "This I believe you will find very interesting."

Izayoi scooted the book over to me so I could follow along. "There is little known about Princess Izayoi, the youngest surviving daughter of Lord Wakayama.' My mother had several miscarrages after me, but they wouldn't have known about it. 'She was said to be the most beautiful girl in their family, but did not have her sister's and mother's unusual blue eyes. She was by far the most petite member of their household, probably from growing up in an impoverished, large family. Princess Izayoi was said to be kind, gentle, and accepting to everyone she met, even the uneducated servant who worked at their castle.' Listen to this, Kagome: 'There have been many tales over the years of Princess Izayoi falling in love with a powerful, fair haired demon, the Inu no Taisho of his dog demon clan.'"

I giggled, and said, "They did get some of it right, hmm?"

"Yes," She flipped back a few pages, and showed me a very beautiful woman who was dressed as a geisha. Her portrait wasn't as well done, and part of it was torn off. "This was my father's youngest wife, Yukana. She was horrible, and always bossed me around like I was her personal servant. She came into our family thinking that we had money, though the only one who spent money was my father, and only on himself. She probably would have married into a much wealthier family had her mother not been good friends with my father, so she was always very bitter that she hadn't been in a better situation."

"Hm, sounds like someone named Kikyo that I know."

"Is that girl still giving you a hard time?"

"No, not that I now wield the power."

"Kagome, I am glad that you are putting her in her place, but don't go overboard with it, okay?" Her tone reminded me of my mama, it almost made me cry.

"Thanks, Mother."

She laughed, and continued. She flipped a few more pages, to a girl who looked somewhat like her, with light eyes. "This was my favorite sister, she was really a good person. I always tried to be like her, you know?"

I nodded, and she kept talking, "She was about ten years older than I, and she was married off at 14 to a samurai lord. They were married for about a year, but her feet were infected and he couldn't stand it. At the time, my family members bathed only once every six weeks. It was so gross! I used to sneak baths in our servant's house every few days, which was right next to my bedroom. My mother used to say that my beautiful skin and hair was a result of our ancestor's spirits blessing us, but she never knew the truth."

I made a face, and said, "I could only imagine. It was smelly, I am sure."

"Yes, two of my father's wives were kicked out because they stunk so badly."

"What is this?" I pointed to a book entitled 'Wakayama Izayoi and the Demon King'.

"It is a book that someone wrote about Touga and I, it is a good one, but not much is true in it unfortunately. It depicted Touga as dying on the day that our son was born, and then I die when the kid is a child. Then the kid grows up homeless and unaccepted, and eventually he gets pinned to a tree by the only woman he ever loves. After fifty years, some girl comes through a magical well and unpins him, and he goes crazy so she finds a way to make him 'sit.' I quit after that much; it was too wild for me."

"Sounds very bizarre…"

"Quite, this is another one that is about my family," She pulled out another, much thinner book on her family. "There is a whole chapter on me, but none of it is true. History doesn't get much right, honestly."

"I always wonder how much they put into history books is actually true…"

Izayoi shrugged, and said, "If it is anything like my experience, it isn't much."

……

The next month was fun and uneventful, which I liked. I got up, with Sesshomaru there as always, did my chores, changed, and went to pick up Inuyasha at their house. Then we picked up Souta, and took him to school, and we went to our school. I did all of my work at school, with Sesshomaru right next to me. I spent lunch with Sango, and after school I went to Souta's. Tuesdays and Thursdays I went to Sesshomaru's and hung out with his family, and then the rest of the time I spent with him in my bedroom or studying. Kikyo didn't say a word to me the entire month, which I thought worrisome and odd.

Sesshomaru and I were assigned an E-pal in America, which was actually a class in America that was taking Japanese. They could only write very minimal, simple phrases, so we really had to dumb ourselves down. Our English teacher knew that we spoke much more advanced English than they of Japanese, but she thought it a good idea.

Sesshomaru brought over his laptop, and we laughed at what the Americans sent us every night. Our teacher had the opportunity to read everything we sent and received, so we had to keep it G Rated. His partner was a female who was obviously using an online translator, because she was using advanced-level words in Japanese. She even once asked him if he was dating someone, and he replied a simple 'Yes.'

My partner was a 'football' player at his high school, who was apparently just taking the class to get into a good 'football university'. He wasn't very interesting, so I did the minimum amount of communication possible to get the participation grade.

Other than this, there was little change of our day-to-day routine. I was constantly amazed at Sesshomaru's abilities, and eventually worked up the courage to nap on top of his enormous demon form. I think that he rather liked it, if I do say so myself.


	15. Chapter 15

………  
It was a Sunday morning, and I was helping Izayoi out in the kitchen as usual. I had already seen Touga in his demon form, and it didn't phase me.

But, this morning, all three youkai men came down to breakfast in their real skin… Inuyasha had the cutest dog ears ever!

"Inuyasha…" I looked up at his ears, and he made a face as if in pain.

"Lets get it over with, please," He closed his eyes, scrunched up his face, and then stood perfectly still with his arms folded.

I went up to him, and said, "You really don't mind, right?"

He remained standing still, and I reached up tentatively. I felt them; they were real! "Oh my goodness, they are sooo cute!"

I reached back, and said, "I am finished, you are out of the danger zone."

He opened his eyes, and let out a sigh. "That was a lot less painful than I thought!"

Everyone laughed, and we all sat down to eat. Sesshomaru and Touga didn't eat anything but the meat, and Izayoi didn't seem to mind. Everyone was getting more and more comfortable around me, which I liked.

I couldn't help but stare at Inuyasha's budding ears all through breakfast, and he looked up angrily at me. "Do you wanna 'nother round?"

"Nope, I'm good!" I looked down at my food, and I didn't look up because I could hear Sesshomaru snarling at Inuyasha.

"Chill out, Sessy," I got laughter from everyone at the table, including Sesshomaru surprisingly, while deviating the attention from Inuyasha's verbal blunder.

…

Later, when we were doing the dishes from breakfast, Izayoi said to me, "That was a marvelous save, Kagome."

I knew what she was talking about, and wasn't going to pretend that I didn't. "Yeah, I am pretty good at those. I don't really blame either one of them; it was my fault. I loved when they argued over the last piece of sausage! It was hilarious!"

Izayoi smiled, and said, "You get used to them, but they are sure funny."

"How is it that Inuyasha got the ears, and Sesshomaru got the moon?"

"Genetics, according to Touga. Sesshomaru's mother had those markings that he has, and a half-youkai is just lucky to survive. Touga said that the only other half youkai he ever knew of did not have the markings, so I suppose they don't get that freaky attribute. When Inuyasha is separated from his father's fang for too long," I assumed she referred to the necklace that he wore, "He does turn into a full demon. He can't control himself, and that is when he has Touga's facial stripes. He used to carry around that huge sword, but it isn't very easily concealed in the modern world. So, we took another of Touga's fangs out."

"Wait… That thing around Inuyasha's neck is actually one of Touga's teeth?"

"Yes, the magical aspects of it keep Inuyasha's inner demon in check. It more or less keeps Inuyasha sane."

"Hmm… Do you think that there are any other Inuyasha's out there? Half dog demons, I mean?"

"No, Touga is one of the few left. For the last thousand years, there have been very few of them anyways. In terms of physical strength and power, Touga and Sesshomaru are the top notches of the demon world. I can't wait to see the look on your face when you see them really let loose!"

"So… How long do dog demons get to live?"

"They can live for a very, very, very long time before they die from old age. Inuyasha's aging is a mystery… He has been a teenager for the last five hundred years, so none of us can really figure him out. He went from a baby to a teenager in two hundred years, and then quit aging at that point. So… I guess we will just wait and see."  
I nodded in agreeance, and we started talking about the layout of their home instead. I think that it was a sensitive topic for her; the fact that she would live as long as her husband, but her only biological son might not live as long as her because of Izayoi's genetics.

……...

When I got home on Sunday afternoon, I found Aunt Ami in the kitchen, sitting down.

"I think that your lawyer forgot to tell you something, Kagome."

"What is that?"

"Kikyo having all of these medical bills," she gestured to the stack of papers in front of her, "that I cannot pay, means that five thousand dollars will come out of your mother's account."

"The Takahashi's paid for everything, Aunt Ami."

She gave me a dirty look, and said, "No, they didn't. I got a bill from the hospital, and it says that I owe them five thousand dollars!"

"Aunt Ami, nice try, but that is fake. I will have the lawyer involved, and then I will be rightfully taken away and you will be fined for trying to take my money. Do you want all of this to happen?"

She gave me another dirty look, and said, "Go clean this whole house. You shouldn't finish until tomorrow morning!"

"Would you like me to tell that to my lawyer?"

"Stupid whore!" She got up from the table, and charged me.

"Oh no, you could get sued and put in jail for that…" She had raised her hand to slap me, and she put it down. Before she could respond, I said, "And no more name calling, that is verbal abuse."

I left her, and went up the stairs with a smirk on my face. "By the way, you can do the dishes this evening. I am not hungry, Aunt Ami."

I went in my room, and shut the door. Sesshomaru was already in there, and gave me a light applause. "Bravo, Cinderella."

"Thank you, Prince Charming."

"I am very impressed, you stayed calm and honest all the way through. You were right, your aunt's lawyer drew up fake bills for you to have to pay."

"If those were real, would I have to pay them?"

He thought for a second, and said, "If your aunt could prove that she was broke, and that you had a substantial amount of money that came from someone related to her, she could take up to twenty percent to pay the medical bills. The judge probably wouldn't rule in her favor, considering that she does not work at all, has a chauffer, and an big, expensive house for three people."

"Makes sense… What if she fakes an illness, with all kinds of bills tacked onto it?"

"The judge would still rule in your favor, that she lives too lavishly to take your money."

I let Sesshomaru convince me, but I still felt that there was something fishy about her lawyer drawing up those fake papers.

…

When we were talking later on, I asked him, "What are all of the jobs that you have had in your life as a 'human'?" I used air quotes, and he rolled his eyes.

"Lets see… A doctor, pharmacist, lawyer, business owner, day trader, stock exchanger, misuse, and a factory worker. You?"

"Wait… you were a misuse? For humans?"

He nodded, and said, "It was my worst career choice. I didn't mind giving the massages, I actually liked that part surprisingly, but humans are really gross. Luckily, someone suspected us and we had to move after a year of that."

"You like giving massages?"

"Yes, haven't we already covered that subject?"  
I shut my mouth, and nodded. Sesshomaru could be rude sometimes without meaning to, and I usually forgave him.

He made a noise in his throat, and said, grudgingly, "I'm sorry. You can't imagine the number of times I got that from my own family."

"Forgiven… I know how you can make it up to me?"

He eyed me curiously, and said, "How?"

"Give me a massage, or you will never be forgiven!" He knew that I was kidding, but went along with it.

"Alright then…" My freakishly tall demon boyfriend turned me over onto my stomach, and touched my body for the first time.

I was glad that I was just in my pajamas (a cotton shirt and a pair of shorts), because the previous massages I had gotten I wore a towel over a bra and underwear.

It felt nice, until he flipped me over and started on my upper legs… His hand brushed _down there_ a few times when he was massaging, and it felt like nothing I had ever felt. He proceeded to do my arms, and quit.

"That was great, keep going?" I smiled at him, fake-expectantly.

"If I keep going, you will be up all night," he took off his jacket, and lay down next to me.

"Disappointing… But you are right," I sighed, and rolled over to snuggle into him.

"I love you, Cinderella."

"I love you too, Prince Charming."

I closed my eyes, but couldn't fall asleep for what felt like hours. I kept wondering if Sesshomaru meant to pleasure me like he did… Did he expect a reaction from me?

………

Every evening afterwards he gave me a massage, but he did not again accidentally touch me _down there._

One day, shortly before Christmas, Sesshomaru and I were talking over breakfast after everyone had left the table.

"I have done the math, and for you to come to Texas with us for a week, you will have to spend the rest of December with Kikyo and your aunt."

I sat and did a rough calculation in my head, and he was right. "Oh, okay… As long as you sneak in."

He nodded, and smirked. "My dad already got your and Souta's plane tickets, he asked for me to tell you not to thank him. I can't wait until you get to see us battle, Kagome."

"Wait… you want a fourth grader to know about you all?"

"My father doesn't like pretending to be human on his down time… And, besides, he is practically family. He will probably get a real kick out of this," he pointed to the tattoos on his face.

I nodded, and said, "Don't wow me too much with your powers; you might just scare me off."

"I won't, I promise."

….


	16. Chapter 16

From that day forward, I went to Souta's for a good long hour and a half every day, just to keep myself away from Aunt Ami for as long as possible. He enjoyed my company, but I knew that he really wanted to go over to Sesshomaru's house once a week.

I decided that for his birthday, December 6th, we would give him his tickets for the plane ride. We had already asked Aunt Higurashi, who agreed completely. She didn't celebrate any holidays, as she belongs to a Christian association that I am unfamiliar with, so we thought this a perfect opportunity to take him.

Souta's friends from school bought him fabulous gifts (we invited all of the kids in his new class, and some of our old friends), so I was excited that he would have many new, expensive things to fill up his room with. The parents had obviously stepped it up a notch because he was the poorest kid in the class, and one parent had made an enormous basket filled with games for his Nintendo, stylish clothes, and sports equipment. I offered the mother some of the things back, and she insisted that she hadn't bought any of the stuff new.

"No, Kichiro doesn't like any of those things anymore. His father owns a Wal-Mart in Tokyo," no wonder they are loaded… "so we get all of those things for free."

"Well… Thank you, very much."

She nodded, and said, "Kichiro really likes and admires Souta… We ought to set up a play date sometime. I can have our driver pick him up."

The extremely well-manicured lady and I talked some more, and everyone left after some extra play in the park.  
Sesshomaru and Inuyasha drove Souta and I home that afternoon, and he thanked them a million times. They uncomfortably replied each time, and I understood that the trait was passed along by their father.

……

One morning in the week following Souta's birthday, I went outside to Sesshomaru's car to find snow all over everything. In this part of Japan the snow quickly turns into mush because of all the sun, and the fact that there is new soil everywhere (it is part of the typical suburbanization; remove everything, then put back half-fake stuff) doesn't help.

I only had a medium jacket from the year before; I had forgotten my favorite and only coat in my mother's closet for the estate sale.

I rushed out to Sesshomaru's car in the flurries, and as soon as I got in the car he turned the heater way up.

"What in the world are you thinking?!" His face contorted so scary when he was really riled up; I had a lot to get used to still.

"I don't have a coat anymore; I forgot it in the estate sale."

"Well why didn't you tell me ten minutes ago?"

"I didn't realize it was snowing outside!"

"We have time to spare; we can stop by my house."

"Izayoi's clothes are way too little for me. It is okay, I promise."

…

It turned out that Sesshomaru was 'sick' in first block, and somehow managed to get the principal to make his absence administrative (he could go do whatever he wanted because he had a great excuse). When he came back, he had a very familiar item in his hand.

It was my winter jacket! My mother had gotten it years ago. The original was a mix of a green peat coat and a rain jacket, with a faux fur lining on the inside. It was the cutest, most classic styled thing we owned, so mom and I shared it. The new one was a sky blue, but it was still my coat.

He gave it to me outside of class, and because he didn't like PDA, I simply said, "Thank you, Sesshomaru."

"You are welcome," We walked down the hallway together, and he turned his head away for the 'welcome' part.

"Where did you find this, may I ask?"

"I remembered the picture from Souta's room, you were wearing this. It was in that store, _Fliss_."

I couldn't believe he had noticed that; Souta was making a funny face, and I was sticking out halfway behind him. You could only see me from the breast up, though it was a very classic, beautiful pattern.

My handsome, smart, powerful, amazing demon boyfriend was absolutely perfect.

….

I wore the coat every day until our flight left for Texas. I was nervous and excited and scared all at the same time for what I was about to see… Touga sat me down a day before we left the airport, and said a few odd things.

"Kagome… When we are doing our thing out on the ranch, it can get very dangerous for humans like you and Izayoi. I have a few warnings: if we say to stay back, stay back. If you see a gigantic dog coming at you, scream and run in the opposite direction. If it looks like Inuyasha is about to rip out Sesshomaru's throat, you can safely assume that they will both be fine. Do not try to get in-between any of us, okay?"

I was very thankful that Sesshomaru had told their tale to Souta through a story; it would make things much easier for us. He would catch on instantly to everything.

……

During our flight, my hot demon boyfriend and his family got very blunt stares from everyone around them. They wore dark wigs on the flight; Inuyasha told Souta that it was so that no one would bug them while they slept. He bought it, though warily.

I think that they meant for Souta to be slightly suspicious of them, so that they could explain everything later.

…….

When we finally got to the ranch they owned, I found it to be small, and old, but very charming. It seemed that Izayoi really liked playing interior designer, and she was good at it.

Souta was very quiet the first day we were there, so I slept in the bunk bed on top of his. I think that it was all a bit much for him, especially the American style foods. Izayoi tried to mommy him some, and I don't think he liked it. As a kid, I knew that he was still recovering from our mother's death… He and my mother were very close.

I made sure that he was all comfortable before going to bed, and I dreamed all night long about what I was going to see tomorrow.

……..

Of course, I dreamt up scary, blood-thirsty demons, and I was pleasantly surprised by my gigantic dog boyfriend. He and his father had to watch a radar screen, to make sure there weren't any airplanes coming anywhere near. They could only transform and run around during the night, so it was just before dinner time now. The last night we would be there the satellite, I am not sure which, would be over North America taking pictures, so they couldn't risk it then.

While they were romping around for Souta and me, who thought it was so 'totally wicked!' Inuyasha nudged me and pointed at Sesshomaru, "I bet this is the first time you have seen Sesshomaru's balls. Really a good view, huh?"

My face turned white, and I turned right around and went inside. You couldn't actually see anything because he was so covered in such long, thick fur.

I went inside their house with Izayoi, who was cooking a meal for all of us. I sat down at the bar, and said, "Izayoi, I can't thank you enough for taking me and Souta with you…"

She waved a hand, and said, "You are welcome, but it isn't necessary to thank us."

I sighed, and went over to her, "You know, I-"

As soon as I made it to the edge of the counter by the stove, a glass pan sitting on the stove exploded. Izayoi looked over at me and screamed; my face felt like it was on fire. Was my eye missing? I could feel blood ooze all over the place. I passed out.

…..

I loved the scent of fresh baked pastries. I woke to this smell, with all the Takahashi's surrounding me. It was nighttime when the pan exploded, and now it was light? Why wasn't I at a hospital? Oh no… What would my face look like now?

There was a wet rag on my forehead, and I pulled it off. I sat up, and everyone started cheering. Souta hugged me, and Izayoi patted him on the back, "I told you it wouldn't take but a few hours for her to heal up nice. It is part of being mated to Sesshomaru."

I looked curiously at Izayoi, who smiled and nodded. "I thought it deserved a special treat," she handed me a pastry with way too much icing for my liking.

"I am what?"

"Mated," I knew this conversation was making Sesshomaru uncomfortable, but I didn't really know how to steer the conversation another way.

My head was groggy, and Touga started snickering. "Feels like you have a hangover, huh?"

"I never had a hangover before."

Inuyasha started laughing obnoxiously for some reason, "I felt really bad that I was the reason that you went inside and got hurt, but now your okay!"

Sesshomaru looked at Inuyasha, "What?"  
I snapped to that instant, and said, "Oh nothing!" I winked at Inuyasha, who nodded.

After that, Souta gave Touga an earful of questions about their heritage and what real youkai were.

Sesshomaru and I went up to his and Inuyasha's shared room, and lied down.

"You really gave me a scare yesterday, Kagome."

"How bad was it?"

"You had scratches all over your face, and your eye was all mangled with glass in it. Izayoi is a RN and I have been to med school, so we took care of all of the glass. We didn't really want to take you to the hospital, because you might heal up overnight with no problems."

"Well it is a good thing you mated me, huh?"

Sesshomaru chuckled, and said, "Yes, it is. The hospital wouldn't have done much besides sedate you, pick out the glass, and bandage you up, which Izayoi and I did."

"Thank you, Sesshomaru."

"Don't thank; Izayoi knows not to leave Pyrex on the stove, even if the burner isn't on."

………

After that, the days were spent watching bad western movies with Japanese subtitles (for Souta and me), enjoying the American culture (Mexican food does not agree with me...), or watching the boys romp around. I was amazed to find that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha's swords were extremely powerful, and could do all sorts of things.

Also, Sesshomaru could beam himself into a small ball of energy, and it would transport him at the speed of light to wherever he wanted to go.

Unfortunately, it all ended way too soon. On the last morning before we left, Izayoi and Touga had a long sit down talk with Souta about keeping the secret. I knew that he would, he was a smart kid after all, but they just wanted to ease their minds I suppose.

……..

Going back to Aunt Ami's house was very depressing, though Kikyo was hilarious about me getting to go with the Takahashi's.

She made snide comments to me about having slept with Sesshomaru the entire time, but I reminded her that I could just say the word to Sesshomaru's parents that Kikyo was being mean to me again, and she would be punished.

"Whatever have fun with my leftovers Kagome," She made sure to pronounce all of the syllables of my name, just to spite me.

"Good night Kikyo, I will have fun with your leftovers again very soon."

I snickered at the underlying meaning of my words, and left.

……..

Sesshomaru was in my bed as I knew he would be, all stretched out on my uncomfortable bed.

"At last, I see you again."

I changed clothes, in front of him, and lay down next to him. "Miss me?"

"I did miss you, for the three hours that you were out of my sight."

"Massage me, please."

Sesshomaru sighed, and said, "Fine, but you owe me a kiss."

"Fine with me."

He got up, and got off the bed and did the usual routine. When he finished at the usual spot, my shoulders, I teased him. "Don't stop…"

Sesshomaru shook his head, and looked around the room. "Not here, Kagome. I want our first time to be special and romantic, okay?"

"Fine… Wait!"

I pulled an old heart-pattern scarf out of my dresser, and threw it over my large, ugly lamp. It cast a pattern of hearts on my ceiling and walls, and Sesshomaru laughed softly at it.

"Cute, but not what I was envisioning."

"Aw darn…"

……..


	17. Chapter 17

Dear readers,

I have noticed some confusion in my documents, the order and such. I am not organized, especially in my different stories. If something seems a bit out of place in the sequential order of Underneath the Stars, or any of my stories, there is probably something wrong.

Let me know if you notice anything please. I want this fic to be the best I could possibly make it, so the order is pretty important. I re-uploaded chapters 14, 15, and uploaded 16 for the first time…. So that might fix the problem.

I need some suggestions, please!

Guynelle


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